President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. on Monday urged all government agencies to fully embrace digitalization as he cited that this a way for them to provide better services to the public.
In his second state address, he mentioned that digitalization has "significantly boosted efficiency”, particularly in the areas of government payments, company and business registration, issuance of permits and licenses, loan applications, and revenue collections.
"Consistent with this transformative policy direction, all government offices must then ensure that all their government offices must be digitalized immediately," the President said.
He remarked that "digitalization is the call of today" and "not of the future."
"It is here. It is needed, and it is needed today," Marcos added.
The President cited significant developments done for digitization under his leadership.
Among this is the launching of the e-Gov PH Super App, an online one-stop shop platform where Filipinos can access a variety of national and local government units' (LGUs) services.
He also mentioned the recently launched Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Mobile application where Overseas Workers (OFWs) can access essential services.
Alongside, the President acknowledged that 87 percent of Filipinos are now registered for the Philippine Identification (PhilID) or the national ID.
He regarded the national ID system as the core of a “digitally transformed network of government services.”
“We are now closer to establishing a complete, accurate, and reliable digital database of our entire population. This has already been integrated into the eGov PH app, and can be accessed by our citizens,” Marcos stressed.
Earlier, he tapped the private sector to help fasten the rollout of the digital version of the national ID.
The President also cited the increasing trend in the use of digital payment systems.
"Digital payments accounted for 42 percent of total retail payments made in 2022, whether in businesses, individuals, or by the government. Its high trajectory is now well-positioned to achieve Bangko Sentral’s target of 50 percent of total retail payments by this year,” he noted.
