Mandaue City now fully automated

CEBU, Philippines - Mandaue City launched last Friday its P30-million full automation project, which connects its 27 barangays, including 13 remote offices and two Business One Stop Shops (BOSS) to City Hall.

The city government also signed a contract with Fastnet Development Corporation, its partner in the project, during the launch at the Robinland Building at the North Reclamation Area.

The automation is being made possible through a virtual private network (VPN) via wireless connectivity.

Information technology consultant Querubin Momongan said the automation would put Mandaue City in a favorable position for investment because processing of permits will become faster. A business permit can now be renewed in 30 minutes at the BOSS kiosk at the malls.

Likewise, the automation would   spare residents of the city the hassle of going to City Hall to pay taxes or secure business permits, as they can now do so at their respective barangays.

"If paspas na unya ang proseso sa pagkuha sa business permit, mas daghan na unyang mga negosyante ang madasig nga mokuha," Momongan said.

Another component of the project, Momongan said, is for barangays to provide free telephone calls to residents therein.

Momongan said the automation project is   inclusive of a tax mapping provision such that the category of a business, as well as its background, would already be encoded into the city's computers. The city started its tax mapping survey of all   business establishments last December 1 and expects to complete the same in three months.

Data gathered from the tax survey would make it easier for the city treasurer's office to determine which among the businesses in the city have or have not paid business taxes and/or secured business permits. Businesses that have paid taxes and/or secured permits will be indicated in green while those that fail to do will be indicated in red on the city's computers.

The system would then make it easier for the city to determine what penalty to impose upon delinquent tax payers.

Momongan said several application soft wares are being used to make the project work, including the city expense module, income module, cash management module, forms accounting inventory module, business permit module, real property tax system, tax verification system, manifold "Geographic Information System"(GIS) software, and Custom GIS Console via Google Earth.

Fastnet has installed three connection towers at the Mandaue City Hall and two others in Barangay Casuntingan and Cubacub. Each barangay and remote offices will also be provided with a desktop computer and printer to facilitate the payment of taxes such as real property tax and community tax.

In his speech Friday night, Mayor Jonas Cortes said the project is a way for the city to improve its services to the people by making business transactions more efficient and convenient for stakeholders. Likewise, he said that the project is way for the city to express its appreciation to the businessmen for their confidence on the city government.

"And since everything will be automated, corruption is reduced, if not eliminated. This has been my promise since the beginning…serbisyo, dili negosyo," Cortes said. . /JMO

 (FREEMAN NEWS)