DICT Holds ‘Bayang Digital’ Roadshow in Pampanga

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) held on March 14 to 15 the first leg of the “Bayang Digital ang Bagong Pilipinas’ Roadshow at the National University (NU) Clark campus in Pampanga.

The roadshow is aimed at encouraging the citizens and the government to imbibe the principles of Bagong Pilipinas.

It is also expected to promote digitalization across governance, public service, industries, commerce, and lifestyle.

The move targets to build a digitally inclusive Philippines which will bridge the gap between the government and the people, under the Bagong Pilipinas banner of the Marcos, Jr. administration, the agency said.

The roadshow was attended by students, faculty members, women, programmers, government employees, local government officials, and parents.

The participants voiced concerns on how the government can become a relevant partner in their digital empowerment.

Government agencies which collaborated with the DICT’s National Privacy Commission and the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center included the Cybersecurity Bureau; Government Digital Transformation Bureau; ICT Industry Development Bureau; ICT Literacy and Competency Development Bureau; National ICT Planning, Policy and Standards Bureau; e-Government Team; Free Wi-Fi for All Project Management Team; National Broadband Program; National Government Data Center; and the National Government Portal Project.

Interactive booths for the attendees were set up during the two-day roadshow, highlighted by the showcase of the eGov PH app that allows Filipinos to access government services online through a single platform.

By using the app, the DICT said the citizens may access their government documents or their contributions and benefits.

It allows access to government services 24/7 and anywhere, from beginning a transaction and up to payment completion.

The app, where the national ID system has already been integrated, also contains the Electronic Local Government Unit system which offers local government services such as business permit licensing, notice of violations, notification system, community tax, business tax, real property tax, and allows users to search for jobs.

“Digitalization is the way in order to make our country competitive worldwide. This is the way to breach the digital divide because when you have a digital divide, you have an economic divide, a gender divide, you have a generational divide, so we need to breach that. That’s what we’re doing in all these digitization efforts,” the DICT said.