The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is requesting a ₱2.7-billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year to scale up its digital government initiatives as Congress gears up for national budget deliberations.
In an interview with Bilyonaryo News Channel (BNC), DICT Undersecretary for E-Government David Almirol shared that the proposed allocation will fund 28 distinct digital platforms and cover cloud hosting costs for more than 100 government agencies.
“28 na platform ‘yan, hindi lang eGov (app) …And take note that sinusuportahan natin dito na agency, tayo din ang nagbabayad ng cloud service ng mahigit 100 na agencies,” Almirol said.
Almirol highlighted that centralizing and automating public services through the eGov super app has dramatically reduced government expenditure by eliminating redundant data entry and streamlining workflow across departments.
“Kaya ang mahal ng digitalization dati sa Pilipinas kasi nga kina-copy paste ‘yung data lagi,” he noted.
He further pointed out that internal optimizations alone yielded massive financial savings for the department without requiring extra operational funding.
“Kami nga nung 2022, you’re not gonna believe it, 60% ang na-save namin nung we were able to implement lalo na itong eGov super app,” Almirol shared.
Underscoring that digital transformation is a cornerstone priority of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Almirol emphasized that transitioning to contactless government transactions aims to curb red tape, shorten lines, and close avenues for public sector corruption.
“Once you make things contactless, mawawala ‘yung singit-singit, red tape. Alam naman natin the more the complicated the process, the more na red tape at corruption,” he explained.
“Pero kapag in-automate natin ‘yan mawawala, hopefully, ‘yung mga masasamang mga balak nung mga gustong mag-corrupt,” he added.