DAVAO City would be the pilot city in Mindanao for the proposed One-Stop Portal digitalization project, said Councilor Bonz Andre Militar on Thursday, October 13.

The One-Stop Portal project would be the go-to digital website where all government transactions from requesting a birth certificate to paying taxes can be done in one platform.

“Ilang website, daghan kaayo government agency nakabutang (Their website connects to many different government agencies)... Makita dayon sa server sa admin unsa tong mga bagong application (The admin server will immediately see new applications). Paspas kaayo siya and ma-track sa applicant (It would really fast-track the process and applicants can even track their transactions),” Militar said.

Militar, as the chairperson of the Committee on Information Technology of the city council, will spearhead the project’s implementation in Davao City. The project is in coordination with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta), the Communications and Information Technology Commission, and the Department Of Information and Communications Technology.

“This month, na present na ang proposed One-Stop Portal (The website for the proposed One-Stop Portal was presented earlier this month)... Pero gusto unta nako mag-present pa sila usab kay during the first, isa pa lang na agency ang apil (But I would like to see another presentation because the initial portal only had one government agency so far),” he said, adding that the One-Stop Portal would also be a mobile application.

The councilor said they are only waiting for the Memorandum of Agreement from the Arta in Davao Region before the proposal can be endorsed to the city council for approval.

As the pilot city in Mindanao, Davao City will receive a free one-year subscription for the One-Stop Portal’s cloud server.

Militar and officer-in-charge of the City Information Office Harvey Lanticse said the project is a step toward Davao City’s digitalization goal and anti-red tape efforts.

“Na-mention gyod ni Mayor Sebastian Duterte na (Mayor Duterte mentioned that) we will really do our best na masugdan ning (to strengthen our) digitalization efforts... It will also streamline the processes and ma-cut nato ang (reduce) red tape,” Lanticse said.

Outside of Davao City, the One-Stop Portal is already in use in the National Capital Region wherein Manila City is the model city for the implementation of the project. ICM