Finalists for 1st Jesse Robredo ICT Awards named

CLARK FREEPORT – The finalists in the first “eGov Awards”, initiated by the late Interior and Local Government Secretary Robredo, have been named.
Eleven cities, six provinces and one town are included in the line-up for the awards, which had been hailed as a tool for transparency in governance through information and communications technology (ICT).
The eGov Awards was initiated earlier this year under a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between Robredo and the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP) and the Cyber City Teleservices Philippines Inc. (CCTP).
The project seeks to promote the use of ICT to improve the delivery of government services and make government transactions readily accessible on the internet.
The finalists included local government units which were able to adopt an ICT system that reduces time for processing government permits and other business requirements from several days to less than an hour.
In other cases, such as in Tarlac province, a new ICT system has been put in place to integrate all health records of people who visit their rural health centers and make their records readily accessible in hospitals, said CyberCity vice president Alex Reyes.
CyberCity president George Sorio announced here the LGU finalists in the nationwide competition under two categories, namely, the government-to-business (G2B) and the government-to-customer (G2C) categories.
G2B covers the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to facilitate business transactions with Local Government Units (LGUs) while G2C covers the use of ICT to ease the public’s transactions with LGUs.
Sorio said the awards, initially referred to simply as eGov Awards, has been renamed “Jesse Robredo Awards for Excellence in ICT for Good Governance” as he noted the late secretary’s support for it, particularly as a measure for government transparency.
CyberCity announced here on Tuesday the finalists under the G2B category as the local governments of Balanga City in Bataan, Carmona in Cavite, San Fernando City in La Union, Cebu City, Ormoc City, Iloilo province, Koronodal City, Butuan City and Cagayan de Oro City.
The finalists under the G2C category were Naga City, Laguna province, Tarlac province, Iloilo province, Negros Occidental province, Ormoc City, Davao City, Agusan del Sur province, and General Santos City.
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 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/or invest in the growth of the LGU’s , and to promote transparency in governance.”
The winners in the awards would be announced later this month, with the awarding rites expected to be held in Sta. Rosa City in Laguna.
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/pampanga/local-news/2012/11/14/finalists-1st-jesse-robredo-ict-awards-named-253165