A high-ranking official from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) disclosed on Wednesday that the government’s primary digital platform, eGov, is currently operating with no allocated budget for software development.
DICT Undersecretary for e-Government David Almirol Jr. stated during a television interview that despite the application securing massive public adoption with over 56 million downloads, it lacks a dedicated fund for technical upgrades.
“For eGov development, zero budget kami ngayon,” Almirol revealed.
The eGov platform functions as a centralized hub for critical public services, integrating more than 1,300 government systems. It handles the digital national ID, social welfare programs, driver’s licenses, permit applications, and public feedback channels.
According to Almirol, the funding shortfall stems from the fact that eGov and similar digital expansion projects were not assigned specific line items when they were first conceptualized.
“Ang eGov, walang item yan. Yung eLGU, walang item yan. Wala ding item yung digital national ID,” he explained.
Almirol clarified that while the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) receives funding for the physical national ID, the DICT has received no funding to maintain the online version.
“Yes, may budget ang national ID ng PSA, pero zero budget kami sa digital national ID kasi bagong technology,” Almirol said.
To bypass these financial limitations, the DICT has relied entirely on internal talent to build and maintain the platform.
“Lahat ito in-house develop namin. Yung mga staff natin sa DICT ang gumawa ng mga ito,” he said.
Securing a stable budget has become urgent as user traffic has overwhelmed the platform’s infrastructure. Almirol previously noted that the system experienced service interruptions following a 700% surge in traffic over the past year.
The adoption rate has completely bypassed initial government projections; while the DICT targeted 30 million users by 2028, the platform already has 51 million unique users as of 2026.
To keep up with this rapid growth, the agency is requesting roughly ₱700 million for the upcoming fiscal year exclusively for eGov software development. This proposed allocation is separate from the department’s budget requests for cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity.
“For eGov alone, around ₱700 million yung nire-request namin,” he said.
The eGov platform is one of 28 systems managed by the DICT’s e-Government bureau.
Despite the immediate funding hurdles, Almirol emphasized his confidence in the Marcos administration’s “Build Better More” digitalization goals, stating that the President remains committed to using technology to curb corruption and streamline bureaucracy.