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Thursday, March 25, 2004
DTI urges local governments to take lead in computerization
LOCAL governments should take the lead in information technology (IT) development, especially in the less urban areas in the country.
This was the message of Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Undersec-retary for Consumer Welfare and Trade Regulation Adrian Cristobal Jr. last Monday during a forum with the mayors of 42 local government units (LGUs) in Central Visayas that received computer packages from the DTI.
Cristobal urged the LGUs to make good use of the equipment given to them so that the Japanese Government, which funded the donations, will consider funding another batch of computer packages.
The DTI official acknowledged that there were more pressing problems, like poverty, to address, but he said local leaders should also not neglect the future, or else the country will be left even further behind in the IT Economy.
According to him, only one to two percent of the Philippine population currently uses the Internet.
The DTI has joined hands with the Department of Science and Technology and the National Computer Center to computerize local governments so they can better deliver services to their constitutents.
Among the goals of the three-year “Jumpstarting Electronic Governance in the Local Government Units” or eLGU project begun in September 2002, is the establishment of websites by LGUs, which has already been achieved, and the setup of 100 e-community centers.
The e-community centers will become “access points for the delivery of online government services,” said NCC Director Maria Teresa Camba during the eLGU forum at Cebu Grand Hotel.
Only with more effective services “can you attract more investors,” Cristobal told the mayors present.
He urged the leaders to be creative in using IT, saying LGUs could even computerize the database for blood banks to boost their preparedness in helping victims of disasters in their areas. CTL
(March 25, 2004 issue)
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