Congress approval of e-governance law urged
OWING to the emergence of more transmissible infections that could necessitate more lockdowns, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte has said Congress could help the national government fast-track its digital transformation by approving the e-governance law, which will facilitate contactless transactions and ensure the uninterrupted delivery of basic services.
Villafuerte noted that his proposed e-governance law, which mandates the establishment of an integrated, interconnected, and interoperable information and resource-sharing and communications network spanning the entirety of the national and local governments, was endorsed by President Duterte during his last State of the Nation Address (SONA).
He said this proposed e-governance law, which has likewise earned the support of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), is part of his troika of legislative initiatives designed to further accelerate the Philippines’ digital switch.
The other two are his proposals on institutionalizing the Bangko sa Baryo, and digital education.
With the surge in coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) cases driven by the coronavirus Delta variant and a possible extension of the stringent lockdowns in the country’s high-risk areas, Villafuerte has told his fellow lawmakers to trash Charter change (Cha-Cha) and focus instead on the approval of these urgent measures that would accelerate the country’s digital transformation.
Earlier, the President asked Congress in his SONA to pass three priority economic reform bills—the amendments to the Foreign Investments Acts (FIA), Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA), and the Public Service Act (PSA), Villafuerte said.
“These three investor-friendly measures should be the priorities of the House leadership,” he said, “along with the measures to accelerate the country’s digital transformation amid this pandemic era of contactless or online transactions.”
Villafuerte, who has championed the country’s digital switch even before the pandemic struck last year, said the use of technology-driven tools will provide the country with new opportunities for growth and make our economy more inclusive, especially for millions of Filipinos in the countryside.
The e-governance bill was approved by the House last year but remains pending in the Senate.
Through e-governance, Villafuerte wants to establish a contactless, electronic-based system of services in all government offices and state-run corporations to do away with paper-based official transactions and physical queueing in government offices in the midst of the highly contagious and lethal pathogen.
He said the Philippines needs to speed up its digital shift, especially with the predominance of online transactions and electronic payments, as well as the use of the Internet to access information.
