(SDN) — TWO municipalities in Camarines Sur, Bicol Region, have found an ally in the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
With the partnership with DOST, through its Innovation Council or the Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD), the two local government units (LGUs) maybe now able “to deliver a more efficient and accessible to their respective communities.”
This after PCIEERD awarded recently six municipal e-governance systems to the two LGUs, precisely to upscale the delivery of services.
PCIEERD hopes the e-governance systems would serve as a model for smart governance for local government offices.
PCIEERD Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit in a light conversation with DOST Undersecretary Dr. Rowena Cristina Guevara during a recent event. (SDN file photo)
The six interrelated systems were designed to work as a cluster of interdependent modules covering areas such as:
● Legislative Management and Tracking System, an application that tracks the status, manages, and stores all communications, requests, proposed resolutions and ordinances, Sanggguniang Bayan resolutions, and ordinances.
● The e-Building Permit System, a 24/7 service that systemizes the building permit process by allowing citizens to easily track the progress of permit requests, schedule inspections, attach electronic plans and requirements, receive corrections, leave messages, and self print certifications.
● The Real Property Assessment and Tax Management System, an application that automates real property transactions and provide onscreen public viewings of delinquent real properties for auction and the online printing of Declaration of Real Property Value (DRPV).
● The e-Business Permit and Licensing System, which allows for the computerization of the permit application process, assessment of taxes and fees, billing, and liquidation of collections.
● Financial accounting uses the Point of Payment System (PoPS), this acts as the central unit that accepts and manages payment transactions from fees, taxes, and charges being collected by LGUs.
● The Local ID System, for the enhancement of the portfolio of citizen-centric services.
The Innovation Council headed by Executive Director Dr. Enrico Paringit said the Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges (CSPC) developed all the six systems.
PCIEERD noted the significance of technology in improving the delivery of basic services.
“With the passage of the Ease of Doing Business Act, which seeks to provide simpler requirements and easier procedures for government transactions, innovations in government service tends to be more LGU-centric to promote transparency, accountability, and effectiveness in their services,” it said.
This early, PCIEERD is confident of the e-governance systems’ spreading and winning more adherents from the country’s other LGUs.
“We hope that other LGUs can look at the innovations that the Nabua municipal office has incorporated and see it as a model in improving their own services and processes,” he said.
Paringit said DOST-PCIEERD initiated the transformation of local government services into a one-stop web portal solution by automating level operations across departments and sub-offices in consonance with the Smart City program of the DOST – starting off with the municipalities of Nabua and Bula.
The PCIEERD chief this e-governance initiative provides automated management, administration, and analytic systems for LGUs to encourage citizen participation and bring in added opportunities through open source technologies.
Paringit also urged policy makers to provide funding in LGUs to cover human resource and equipment and integrate an e-governance funding scheme into the municipalities’ annual budget plan.
“Sustaining the innovations we have started entails bankrolling these initiatives that will make sure that they are optimized to its full potential,” he said.
LGU-based solutions are important in developing smart cities as it provides a better foundation and innovation on government services and transactions that they offer to their constituents.
Meanwhile, Paringit announced the DOST-PCIEERD will be celebrating its 9th anniversary this month of June with the theme “Smart Governance: Role of Science, Technology, and Innovation,” which highlights the different technologies that the Innovation Council has funded on smart governance. (SDN/PCIEERD)