Uy: DICT to pursue e-governance to simplify access to gov't transactions, services

Incoming Information and Communications Technology Secretary Ivan Uy said on Friday that the new government would turn to e-governance to simplify government service transactions.

At the Laging Handa briefing, Uy said that one of the marching orders of President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. was to minimize long queues for government services and provide internet connectivity to far-flung areas.

“To address e-governance, ito po ay upang mapasimple ang mga transaction ng ating mga mamamayan sa mga access (to provide simple transaction to our Filipinos to access) government services. So we are looking at streamlining, reducing red tape, and minimizing yung mga pila pila po sa mga iba ibang opisina ng gobyerno (long queues in different government agencies),” Uy said.

“[Hindi na] mag-aabsent sa trabaho upang makakuha ng certification ng clearance ng applications sa government offices. Ito po ay some of the priorities na instructions ni Pangulong Bongbong Marcos,” he added.

(They will no longer be absent from work to get a certification, clearance, and applications from government offices. These are some of the priority instructions of President Marcos.)

Marcos earlier said he would prioritize the development of a digital infrastructure alongside continuing the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program of President Rodrigo Duterte.

He said the internet has become a huge part of people’s lives, noting that it was important to improve the digital infrastructure and it was the first thing that needed to be addressed.

Musk’s Starlink registration

Uy also welcomed the entry of American tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s low earth orbit (LEO) satellite internet technology in the Philippines, adding that they were working out the details for it.

“This is a welcome development po dahil we will have an additional player now. It is a satellite provider so lalo na po sa mga areas ma liblib na lugar eh aabot na po ang (especially in remote areas, they will have access to the) internet so we are working out the details,” he said.

“Hopefully, darating na yung mga satellite receivers na kailangang deploy sa iba’t ibang lugar ng ating bansa upang makatanggap ng internet. Lalo na yung mga isla na medyo kakaunti ang mga populasyon," he added.

"Hindi naabot ng mga traditional telco dahil napakamahal po ng cable, fiber optic, [at] submarine cable. Upang makarating sa mga lugar at since kakaunti ang mga tao di sila nabibigyan ng sapat na access. Sana po eh ma-deploy natin ito the sooner the better.”

(Hopefully, the satellite receivers that need to be deployed in different parts of our country would arrive. Especially in the islands with relatively small populations that are not reached by traditional telcos because cable, fiber optic, and submarine cable are very expensive. Since there are very few people there, they are not given enough access. I hope we can deploy it there, the sooner the better.)

Starlink is SpaceX’s LEO satellite network constellation.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) earlier announced that the Philippines was set to be the first country in Southeast Asia to avail of the Starlink technology.

Cybercriminals

The incoming DICT Secretary said the department’s attached agencies, such as National Telecommunications Commission (NTC), Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC), and National Privacy Commission (NPC,) were  coordinating to address the growing issue of scams in text messages and social media platforms.

“These three agencies will have to work together in order to address this growing issue of scamming using text, using social media, and so on. This is part of the digital society eh. Yung mga criminals nagiging digital din. Natututo na rin sila manloko and commit other types of cybercrimes on the network,” he said.

He admitted that some law enforcement agencies lacked training, and there was a need to build a digital police to go after these cybercriminals.

“We have our law enforcement agencies who are still being trained. May iba medyo may training na, pero kulang po dahil sa proliferation po nito (some agencies have training but it is still not enough due to the proliferation of cybercrime). We need to build a digital police that will go after these cybercriminals. Dapat po we need more training and select the right people in order to do this properly,” he added. — DVM, GMA News