Magsaysay asks government bodies to comply with E-Commerce Law

Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr., chairman of the Congressional Oversight Committee on E-Commerce, asked government departments to comply with the Electronic Commerce Law that mandates the installation of electronic online network which will allow online transactions and e-procurement in a bid to fight red tape and corruption.

During the second hearing of the committee last Nov. 20, Magsaysay, along with co-chairman Rep. Harry Angping and vice-chairman Rep. Rodolfo Bacani, said the government must not sleep on the crucial task of implementing the provision in the E-Commerce Law which is aimed at achieving efficiency and eliminating the so-called "kickback system" embedded in government.

Magsaysay said the committee is set to publish a monthly monitoring chart on the status of compliance with the E-Commerce Law by the different government departments and their attached bureaus and agencies to hasten the progress of the online network system.

"This report will make public the efforts of our departments and bureaus as regards implementing the E-Commerce Law that will pave the way for better service, less red tape while promoting transparency in governance, Magsaysay said.

It was disclosed that overall government initiative on information and communication technology in the country has been turtle-paced, according to Digital Philippines’ survey on e-government initiatives reported to the committee by E-Asean Task Force executive director Emmanuel Lallana.

Using UN-ASPA’s five stages of e-government (with stage 1 as having emerging web presence, stage 2 as having enhanced web presence, stage 3 as having interactive web presence, stage 4 as having transactional web presence and stage 5 as having fully integrated web presence), all surveyed Philippine government websites from the executive, legislative, judiciary, constitutional offices, government-owned and controlled corporations and attached bureaus were categorized in the first three stages.

Of the 77 government websites surveyed in the country, 27 percent were in stage 1 (emerging web presence), while 38 percent were in stage 2 (enhanced web presence) and only 19 percent were in stage 3 (interactive web presence). The remaining 16 percent had websites which were unavailable.