Celebrating connectivity
I’ve written here before about how the United Nations (UN) bestowed upon the Philippines the UN E-Government Award in recognition of the country’s remarkable progress in e-governance from 2022 to 2024 and about how the Philippines was one of only 12 out of 193 countries worldwide to receive the award.
This award was conferred by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA) during a special segment of the 2025 UN Public Service Forum held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. It acknowledges countries that were significantly advanced in the UN E-Government Development Index (EGDI) and the Online Service Index (OSI) — two global benchmarks for measuring government digital performance.
The country improved its classification from “High” to “Very High” in the E-Government Development Index (EGDI), rose more than 15 places in the EGDI global ranking, and also moved from “High” to “Very High” in the Online Service Index (OSI) after achieving an increase of over 15% between 2022 and 2024.
According to DICT Undersecretary for E-Government, David Almirol Jr., these milestones “reflect the government’s sustained efforts to digitalize public services and make them more accessible, secure, and citizen-centric” and that “this global recognition by the UN validates the Philippines’ digital transformation roadmap under President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., aligning with his vision to make government services more efficient, inclusive, and future-ready.”
The Philippines also clinched two major accolades recently at the prestigious 2025 GovMedia Awards in Singapore, with the eGovPH Super App being hailed as the E-Governance Project of the Year, and the eGovDX Platform winning the Digital Transformation of the Year.
The DICT has successfully rolled out several major digital platforms, among them the eGOV PH Super App in 2023 which now has over 13 million users and offers 47 integrated service modules with over 150 million transactions.
E-governance, or electronic governance, according to IGI Global, is “the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to provide government services and information to citizens, businesses, and other government entities.”
It aims to improve efficiency, transparency, and citizen engagement in government processes. Essentially, it’s about using digital tools to make government more accessible, responsive, and accountable to the people it governs.
The key aspects of e-governance are service delivery, information dissemination, citizen engagement, inter-governmental cooperation, transparency and accountability, and efficiency and cost-savings.
Some examples of e-governance are online tax filing, digital IDs, online voting, e-procurement, e-payment, and online citizen portals.
E-governance has been with the Philippine government since the last century. It was in 1971 that the National Computer Center (NCC) was established by then President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, father of the current President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., through Executive Order No. 322.
In 1978, the NCC was designated as the primary government agency responsible for directing IT use for national development and rationalizing the computerization of the country.
In 1994, Executive Order No. 190 (President Fidel V. Ramos) created the National Information Technology Council (NITC) and designated it as the central policy body on ICT matters in the country.
In 2000, Republic Act No. 8792 was signed into law by then President Joseph Ejercito Estrada, also known as the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 (E-Commerce Act) that aimed to facilitate both domestic and international electronic transactions. It recognized the validity and legal effect of electronic documents and digital signatures, promoting the use of electronic, optical, and similar technologies in various dealings.
In 2016, then President Benigno Aquino III signed into law Republic Act No. 10844, creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), the primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the Executive Branch of the government that will plan, develop, and promote the national ICT development agenda.
Fast forward to today and this month we celebrated and gave thanks for the achievements of the eGOV.ph Super App in an event dubbed “Click, Connect, Celebrate” at the Foro de Intramuros in Manila.
No less than President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and First Lady Louise “Liza” Araneta Marcos were on hand for the celebration, together with PLDT-Smart chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, Education Secretary Sonny Angara, Metro Pacific Investment Corp.’s Chaye Cabal-Revilla, and, of course, DICT Undersecretary and Multisys Systems founder Dave Almirol.
“It’s a good thing we have a tech-savvy president!” Almirol said, as he thanked the President and First Lady for their unwavering support to eGOV.ph.
Indeed, there have been over 550 million transactions via the app alone and more to come as more people are made more aware of the app and its functions.
The app itself is not hard to download, and you can do it in minutes.
My congratulations also to DICT Secretary Henry Aguda, a fellow UP Law alumnus, for steering the department in the right direction.
This is one way of bringing government closer to the people where, ironically, the more virtual it becomes in terms of adding more to the digital services, the more real it gets to the people.
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