'Don’t get in line, go online:' DICT asks public to support e-Governance initiatives

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy urged the public to take advantage of what technology offers as the government rolls out its e-Governance programs and projects.  ###### DICT Secretary Ivan John Uy (Photo courtesy of PCO) ###### “Don’t get in line, go online,” Uy said in a speech as he introduced the E-Governance project in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Ceremonial Signing between the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) and the DITC at the CHED Auditorium on Tuesday, May 30. In his opening speech, Uy addressed the hassles and inconveniences of every Filipino in traditionally engaging with their government-related papers. “They (Filipinos) fill up forms here, and not just a single form, they often required them in triplicate, ‘hindi pa naka-carbon, so ang nangyayari’ (without carbon copying, so what is happening), they fill it up separately, triplicate, quadruplicate. Then after that, when they are about to pay, they have to fall in line again,” Uy said. The Secretary also mentioned the order which President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr. directed: getting the government into the digital age and bringing the government to the people which showed that the main focus of the eGovernance project is to make the government-related engagements digitalized and easier for Filipinos. Also, he announced the launch of the eGov PH Application – an app that aggregated all the websites of all government agencies in a single operating system – where all the previous MOU conducted by the DICT with different government agencies will be available. “We have signed several Memorandum of Understandings already with many government agencies, and several of them will be incorporated in our e-Gov Super App (eGov PH), which will be launching later this week,” Uy said. Uy also underscored the positive impact of the E-Governance project in Universities by highlighting “Easy Transactions” and the finer “Veracity” of documents, especially the diploma. **eGov App for easy Government transactions** DICT Undersecretary for e-Government David Almirol Jr. explained the importance of the single operating system to integrate all the websites under the government. He also stressed the sense of e-Governance in state universities and colleges (SUCs) that simplified and escaped redundancies in terms of filling. Thus, authenticating one’s diploma and grades will be easy. Almirol also explained the top priorities of the eGovernment project which include “eLGU” – to simplify local government unit services like permits, contributions, clearance, and payments.; “eTravel,” to integrate all travel applications and documents which are essential for health, tourism, OFWs, and transportation; “eGovPay,” to make government payments easy; “eGovCloud,” for better storage of data; “eReport,” to submit complains (which according to Usec., reports will go directly to the nearest police station); and the “eGov PH App,” to aggregate all national government agency in one simple app for contactless, cashless, and paperless transactions. However, for the security of the app, the presence of an identity verification feature powered by eGov AI with electronic Knows-Your-Customer (eKYC) to avoid online fraud. RELATED STORY: [https://mb.com.ph/2023/5/30/ched-dict-to-integrate-technology-in-higher-education-sector](https://mb.com.ph/2023/5/30/ched-dict-to-integrate-technology-in-higher-education-sector)

Source: Manila Bulletin (https://mb.com.ph/2023/5/30/don-t-get-in-line-go-online-dict-asks-public-to-support-e-governance-initiatives)