Makati to implement e-governance plan

Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay announced yesterday that the city government is set to fully implement its electronic governance (e-Governance) program with the approval of its P4.7 billion budget from the Department of Budget and Management.

The e-Governance program was introduced by Binay during his inaugural address as one of his priority programs which involves the computerization of the entire system of the City Hall.

The first phase of the program has already been implemented with the computerization of all city offices.

For the next phase, Binay said that a central information system would be set-up to process and release the requirements of the city residents on a 24-hour basis even on weekends.

The city is also looking at providing the city police force with a mobile tracking device and electronic response capability to citizen’s requests. "We expect city employees, residents and clients to benefit from the efficiency and convenience of paperless transactions," Binay said.

Binay added that this year’s budget would be used to maintain the services provided by the city for its residents such as education, health and social services.

The biggest share of the budget would go to the Ospital ng Makati with P181 million; followed by the Pamantasan ng Makati with P180 million; Makati Health Department, P130.5 million; P81.3 million, engineering and public works; P79 million, education department; and P24 million for social services.

On top of the approved budget, the city has also generated P1.7 billion from its tax collections last January. Some P5 million of the P1.7 billion would be used to fund the new Blue Card program for the city’s senior citizens. — Marvin Sy