RP ranks high in UN’s survey on e-governance

[baludoy]

RP ranks high in UN’s survey on e-governance

By Cynthia Balana, Riza T. Olchondra
Inquirer
Last updated 07:06am (Mla time) 07/05/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines ranks among the top 25 countries in the world in the United Nations E-Governance Survey because of “the innovative ways the government is employing technology to improve public administration,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said Wednesday.

The DFA said a panel at the 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government at the UN headquarters in Vienna on June 28 cited the partnership between the Philippine government and the private sector to monitor polluters through the Bantay-Usok and Bantay-Kalikasan programs as a model of how technology was enabling citizens to actively take part in governance.

It said this affirmed the “UN Global E-Government Readiness Report: From E-government to E-inclusion,” which named the Philippines as one of the 25 countries employing technology or e-government tools to the fullest. The report was published by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs in 2006.

In the UN E-Governance Survey, the Philippines tied with Austria for 17th place among 191 countries using a web-measure index that assessed the quality of government websites and the level of utilization of information and communications technology (ICT) tools in government, either to provide information or establish Internet-based interactive and transactional services.

At the top of the survey were the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore, Republic of Korea and Denmark.

E-government readiness

The Philippines also ranked fourth in e-government readiness among countries in Asia, next only to Singapore, Republic of Korea and Japan.

In the general survey of e-government readiness, the Philippines ranked 41st among 179 countries.

The UN defines e-readiness as a national government’s capacity and willingness to use e-government for ICT-led development.

In the context of the survey, e-readiness refers to the given resources of Philippine government organizations as well as the investments they are willing to make in order to engage in e-government.

The same UN survey also said the Philippines’ integrated portal www.gov.ph was “on a par with the best of the world.”

E-participation index

The survey said the portal was one of the few national sites in the world offering a wireless access alternative for users, either through Short Message Service, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), or a Pocket PC section.

The Philippines was also ranked 15th in the e-participation index, among countries providing “access and opportunity to the citizen through the development of participatory initiatives via ICT.”

The index assessed the relevance and usefulness of the e-participation features of government websites worldwide, and how well they were being deployed for “promoting participatory decision-making.”

The top 10 countries, according to this index, were the UK, US, Singapore, Canada, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Denmark, Mexico, Australia and the Netherlands.

The UN survey stressed the need for the Philippines to continue to further improve the level of telecommunications infrastructure to fully implement e-governance, the DFA said.

Room for improvement

Local experts said improving telecom infrastructures and efforts to promote connectivity had somewhat boosted IT-enabled industries and services.

But they also said there was a lot of room for improvement.

Business Processing Association of the Philippines CEO Oscar Sañez credited the country’s top three telcos -- Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Globe Telecom Inc. (and wireless unit Innove) and Bayan Telecommunications (BayanTel) for improving the telecom and Internet infrastructure.

“On the commercial side, affordable broadband Internet was really crucial to our e-readiness because it enabled such things as Internet literacy, IT-enabled business, and offshoring,” Sañez said.

“On the industry side, demand for voice-over Internet offerings, primarily pushed by outsourcing firms, made it cheaper and more available for everyone. On the government’s side, there is some infrastructure and education effort, but we need more in order to improve,” he said, adding:

“If we want to have more quality graduates that can serve our growing IT needs, we need to increase PC penetration in high schools and elementary schools, and we need to educate our students on the use of the Internet.”

Good prospects

Separately, executives of local telcos said the Philippines had good prospects for improved ICT infrastructure and capacity.

PLDT Corporate Business Group head Eric R. Alberto and Innove CEO Gil Genio said at the recent Cebu ICT 2007 conference that two new undersea cable links would be completed early in 2009.

“When the additional networks are in place, the aggregate capacity for [Internet]-based services will be five times the current one,” Genio said.

Globe is spending P9 billion for the trans-Pacific cable system that will link Asia directly to the United States. PLDT is investing $100 million in a separate system.

Alberto also said the Philippines was increasingly becoming an alternative ICT hub for outsourcing business next to India. He said it would take a “confluence of efforts” from the government, academe and private sector to boost the country’s IT-enabled industries, such as business process outsourcing.

BayanTel executive consultant Tunde Fafunwa, meanwhile, said the private sector should take “a pragmatic approach” and undertake infrastructure improvements on its own.

“[Let us] be realistic about the government’s role. We can’t afford to wait. We must take charge,” Fafunwa said.

But in order to sustain the Philippines’ improved e-readiness, the government must lead the way with a road map, said Janette Torral, former executive director of the E-commerce Congressional Oversight Committee.

Torral said that “for improvement to continue,” the Commission on Information and Communications Technology and National Telecommunications Commission should “put together the long-delayed Government Information Systems Technology (GIST) plan.”

now, this is a pleasant surprise

[artpogi]

indeed it is a pleasant surprise

[4wrider]

If only we can use these e-facilities for greater transparency and lesser red tape leading to reduction of corruption, living in the Philippines will be more tolerable.

[Chip]

not to rain on anyone's parade but automation isnt always better.
people + process+ technology

automated nga, dami pa rin red tape, kelangan satin process improvement.
but this is a step in the right direction

next step: people and process hehehe :D (sana in that order)

[xtech]

pag automated kahit papano, nababawasan na ang tampering ng records.:2thumbsup: