EDITORIAL Boosting e-governance

As part of energy-saving measures to cope with the fuel crisis, national government agencies, several local governments and much of the judiciary shifted to a four-day workweek beginning yesterday.

The arrangement calls for a longer working day, typically from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., four days a week. Or else there will be regular in-person working hours four days a week, and work from home on Fridays. Agencies in front-line services such as healthcare and law enforcement are excluded.

The remote work arrangement, along with calls for greater use of online services, should provide an opportunity to test the efficiency of the country’s digital infrastructure amid ongoing efforts to shift to e-governance.

From registering for e-travel to obtaining civil records and paying for various government services, people have complained of clunky digital systems and technical glitches.

It’s unclear if the technology is to blame, or if inefficiency is designed into e-systems so people will continue to opt for in-person transactions where red tape is built in for the collection of “facilitation fees” or grease money.

The COVID lockdowns forced Filipinos to shift to remote transactions and digital technology. The shift has helped reduce long lines in government offices, and has been a boon particularly to the elderly, pregnant women and people with mobility problems.

Overall, however, there’s still a wide room for improvement in digital government transactions.

For one, the typical government office has inadequate digital devices for smooth e-transactions.

For another – as anti-red tape authorities have pointed out –  humans design red tape into the system. If such crooks can do this for in-person transactions, they can also design red tape into e-systems. Agency heads must ensure that red tape, redundancy and inefficiency are not built into e-transactions.

It is said that there is opportunity in every crisis. President Marcos has often said he wants e-governance to be institutionalized nationwide.

This effort can be boosted and opportunities for improving digital transactions explored as the nation copes with the worsening fuel crisis.