ADMINISTRATION Senator Christopher Lawrence “Bong” T. Go vowed to push timely passage of an enabling law to institutionalize digital payments for government disbursements and collections, even as he hailed President Duterte’s issuance of Executive Order 170 mandating this.
Go reaffirmed this commitment as he stressed the importance of financial transaction digitalization in the country, while crediting the Chief Executive’s timely directive ordering the adoption of digital payments for government disbursements and collections.
In signing EO 170 last May 12, Duterte directed all departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the government, including state universities and colleges and government-owned or -controlled corporations, to “adopt digital payments for their respective disbursements and collections,” enjoining local government units to do the same.
At the outset, Go recalled he was already pushing for the digitalization of the financial management operations in the government to improve transparency and efficiency in the use of public funds.
The administration lawmaker is convinced adopting digitalization is “the way to go to improve transparency and efficiency in government transactions and utilization of public funds using digital platforms.”
As provided in EO 170, “all agencies are mandated to utilize safe and efficient digital disbursement in the payment of goods, services and other disbursements, including in the distribution of financial assistance, as well as in the payment of salaries, wages, allowances and other compensation to employees.”
Government agencies are directed to offer a digital mode of collecting payments for taxes, fees, tolls and other charges and impositions. The EO allows agencies to disburse funds directly into the transaction accounts of recipients or beneficiaries without need of a special arrangement from the financial institution concerned.
The EO noted that the pandemic highlighted the benefits of utilizing digital payment services across various sectors, “as it enabled a fast, convenient, secure and transparent mode of delivering government services and transacting business.”
Go similarly observed that the pandemic “underscored gaps, both foreseen and unforeseen, in the delivery of government services in the country.”
Stressing the crucial role that the government must play in the digital era transition, Go recalled this was what prompted him to file Senate Bill 1738, to be known as the E-Governance Act, in 2020.
“In an age where almost everything can be done online and through other digital platforms, the government must harness the power of information and communications technology to better serve its purpose and bring the government closer to the people,” Go added.
He reaffirmed that “we need e-governance to provide our people with the services they need from the comfort of their homes or workplaces. Not only shall it enable our bureaucracy to better transition into the ‘new normal’ but it will also cut or minimize red tape and corruption.”
The senator assured that soon as SB 1738 is enacted into law, it will provide for the establishment of an integrated, interconnected and interoperable information and resource-sharing and communications network spanning the entirety of the national and local government, an internal records management information system, an information database and digital portals for the delivery of public services.
Go projects that once enacted into law , the remedial legislation will “accelerate the digital transformation by removing the delays and other issues that come with traditional governance in communications, resource sharing and information sharing.”
The administration lawmaker, likewise, projects that through e-governance law, “the public will feel that the government is actually and truly at their fingertips.”
“Times have changed,” adds Go, noting that “as we work towards pandemic recovery, the transition to e-governance becomes crucial, particularly the digitalizing of government processes.”