DBM to release ICT budget through DAP

CEBU, Philippines - Budget secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad expressed optimism that the allocated P878.5 million budget for the Information Communication Technology development will be released through the Disbursement Acceleration Program.

Abad was in Cebu yesterday to kick-off the two-day Cabinet Cluster on Good Governance and Anti-Corruption roadshow.

He earlier announced that a huge chunk of the ICT budget will be allocated for the completion of the Integrated Government Philippines (iGovPhil) project.

"Our continued investments in high-impact ICT programs are central to the Aquino administration's good governance agenda. We remain continued to harnessing technology and developing relevant mechanisms to improve the way government agencies work with each other. Data security won’t be an issue, since we'll be using common application systems across the bureaucracy," said Abad.

DBM is releasing P878.5 million to the Department of Science and Technology-Information  and Communications technology (DOST-ICTO) to support the second phase of the iGovPhil project.

iGovPhil is one of the vital parts in the e-Government Master Plan of 2013-2016, which aims to maximize the use of ICT resources through shared ICT infrastructure, services, and applications for national government agencies.

iGovPhil has a total project cost of P2.53 billion implemented from 2012 to 2016. DBM has previously released P164.6 million to ICTO in 2012 for the first phase of the project.

The latest P878.5 million funding –charged against the FY 2014 E-Government Fund – will cover funding requirements of the second phase.

Abad said that the project will go a long way in better harmonizing the government processes and inter-operability within the bureaucracy, leading to a faster and more efficient delivery of government services to the people.

"Aside from the savings that we will generate from paperless transactions, we will also save time by linking various government agencies through the shared ICT infrastructure. Ultimately, these are efforts to improve the speed and efficiency by which we deliver public services," he added.

As of  December 31, 2013, 30 percent and 80 percent of government agencies in Manila and Cebu respectively, have been successfully connected via fiber optic.

Seventy-one percent of the target Government Data Centers have already been established.

Meanwhile, Abad is confident that the congress is going to approve the proposed supplemental budget of P13 billion as many of the legislators' projects are being affected by the DAP controversy.

He said there is urgency for Congress to approve the supplemental budget bid, while part of it will be spent for preparation of the APEC Summit next year. (FREEMAN)