DBM releases P878M for iGovPhil phase 2

CEBU, Philippines - The Philippines is heading towards maximizing the use of technology by spending P878.5 million more to complete its Integrated Government Philippines project.

"Our continued investments in high-impact ICT programs are central to the Aquino administration's good governance agenda. We remain continued to harnessing technology and developing relevant mechanisms to improve the way government agencies work with each other. Data security wont be an issue, since we'll be using common application systems across the bureaucracy," said  Department of Budget and Management secretary Florencio "Butch" Abad.

DBM is releasing P878.5 million to the Department of Science and Technology-Information  and Communications technology  to support the second phase of iGovPhil project.

The iGovPhil is one of the vital parts in the e-Government Master Plan of 2013-2016, which aims to maximize the use of ICT resources through shared ICT infrastructure, services, and applications for national government agencies.

iGovPhil has a total project cost of P2.53 billion implemented from 2012 to 2016. DBM has previously released P164.6 million to ICTO in 2012 for the first phase of the project.

The latest P878.5 million funding--charged against the FY 2014 E-Government Fund--will cover funding requirements of thr second phase project.

In a statement Abad said that the project will go a long way in better harmonizing the government processes and inter-operatibility within the bureaucracy, leading to a faster and more efficient delivery of government services to the people.

"Aside from the savings that we will generate from paperless transactions, we will also save time by linking various government agencies through the shared ICT infrastructure. Ultimately, these are efforts to improve the speed and efficiency by which we deliver public services, " he added.

As of December 31, 2013, 30 percent and 80 percent of government agencies in Manila and Cebu respectively, have been successfully connected to fiber optic.

Meanwhile, 71 percent of the target Government Data Centers have already been established. — (FREEMAN)