CLARK FREEPORT –– The provincial government of Tarlac and the local government of Cebu City have won the first Jesse Robredo Awards for Excellence in ICT for Good Governance.
Initially known as “eGov Awards” before the fatal accident that claimed the life of Interior and Local Governments Sec. Robredo, the awards aim to boost efficiency and transparency in local government units (LGUS) through the use of modern information technology.
CyberCity president George Sorio announced here yesterday the LGU awardees in the nationwide competition under two categories, namely,Tarlac provincial government under the government-to-business (G2B) category and Cebu City under the government-to-customer (G2C) category.
G2B covered the use of ICT to facilitate business transactions with LGU’s while G2C referred to the use of ICT to ease the public’s transactions with LGUs, Sorio explained.
In the G2C category, Naga City came second, while Iloilo City was third, while under G2C, Balanga City in Bataan was second and Carmona, Cavite was third.
The awarding rites were held over the weekend in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.
The award was named after Robredo who, while he was still head of the Department of Interior and Local Governments, fully backed IT as a means to advance transparency in governance.
The award, then referred to as eGov Awards, was initiated earlier this year under a memorandum of agreement between Robredo and the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) and the Cyber City Teleservices Philippines Inc. (CCTP) based in this Freeport.
The MOA signed with Robredo said the awards would establish a “strategic approach to stimulate the country’s good governance initiatives to enable LGUs to become catalyst of change and index model of development anchored in the Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) 2011-2016 which foresees the emergence of intelligent enabled-cities with full access to information and services anytime, anywhere.”
Robredo then emphasized “the need for institutional capability and sustainability as well as significant outcomes as a result of using ICT as a tool for local government processes.”
CyberCity’s Sorio said “the objective of the awards is to encourage the effective and efficient utilization of information and communications technology (ICT) in the delivery of services and performance of the duties and responsibilities by local government units (LGUs).”
“It also aims to commend, collate and document best practices of LGUs in integrating ICT in their processes to serve as example and benchmarks to other LGU’s, to improve the business ecosystem of the LGUs and motivate the private and business sector to actively participate and invest in the growth of the LGU’s , and to promote transparency in governance,” he added.
