With just a year left before the Aquino administration finishes its term in office, the government is putting the final touches on its ICT policies in an attempt the hasten the adoption and completion of some of its ICT initiatives for the bureaucracy.
The Information and Communications Technology Office (ICT Office) of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) said the issuance of policies on operational standards, Web hosting, and email will accelerate the adoption among government agencies.
Louis Napoleon C. Casambre, ICT Office executive director, signed the Memorandum Circulars governing Government Web Hosting Service (GWHS), Government-wide Email (GovMail), and Philippine eGovernment Interoperability Framework or PeGIF Part 2, otherwise known as the Information Interoperability Framework (IIF).
?The GWHS is the government?s answer to the need for greater security and robustness in the Internet technologies it uses,? said Casambre.
ICT Office deputy executive director for e-Government Denis F. Villorente said, ?The adoption of GovMail Services will rationalize government communications as well as improve the delivery of goods and services to the general public.?
The Memorandum Circular on GovMail is in line with the provision of Republic Act 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, which requires the government to redesign its transaction systems and procedures to reduce bureaucratic red tape and processing time. It also provides the basis for appropriate disciplinary actions on violations of the use of the GovMail service.
The circular on interoperability, meanwhile, lays out the policies on information standards to be adopted by government agencies.
?The IIF will certainly enable the Philippine government to share and reuse information in a uniform and effective manner among its various agencies and instrumentalities as well as between the government and its stakeholders,? said Villorente.
GWHS, GovMail, and IIF are all part of ICT Office?s iGov Philippines program which seeks to enhance government efficiency by using and putting relevant mechanisms to implement interactive, interconnected, and interoperable government applications.
