DAVAO City Councilor Bonz Andre A. Militar, chairperson of the committee on information technology, said that they will fully implement the Less Paper System at the Sangguniang Panlungsod in November this year.
“Nahuman na gyud nila fully ang [they already finished the] system, I think we are going to implement it next month,” Militar said during the Aprubado sa Konseho on Tuesday morning, October 29, 2024.
Militar added that the features the councilors wanted to be included from their previous dry run have been added to the Legislative Information Support System Program (LISSP). He said that by next week they might conduct a final beta test of the program since some councilors suggested changing the font of the system for better viewing.
He explained that not only would the council be implementing less paper usage, but also digitalizing the legislative process. He said that every process at the Sangguniang would be digitalized, from the submission of the committee hearing down to the session agenda.
He said that through the ordinance, the City Council's consumption of paper would be reduced from 700 reams to five reams per month. He said that expenses for ink and printers would also decrease with the full implementation of the system.
Before the approval of the ordinance, Militar said that he consulted all of the councilors to see if they would have a hard time with the implementation of the Less Paper Ordinance; however, many showed their support for it. He emphasized that they ensured the system was user-friendly so that the councilors would not have difficulty using it.
Although this would not guarantee that the council would no longer use paper since they are still required to have hard copies of some documents, the implementation would reduce expenses related to printing.
He added that the council has been implementing the ordinance but is currently using Google Drive. However, when it is fully implemented, they will employ a website.
Once the system is running, the public will have access to the ordinances of the city, allowing them to monitor progress, determine the reasons for any delays, and know the scheduled committee hearings.
To ensure that the council’s documents will be safe online, Militar said that they have also purchased a firewall; however, this cannot guarantee that it will be 100 percent safe from hackers. The City Information Technology Center (CITC) ensured that there are redundant servers in case a hacking incident occurs.
To recall, the 20th City Council approved the ordinance aimed at implementing a Less Paper System on the third and final reading on September 26, 2024, in line with the LGU’s goal to digitize government transactions.
To implement the system, the council will prepare tablets for councilors, acquire the necessary hardware for LISSP, establish a data protection firewall, and subscribe to cloud services. Approximately P4.9 million has been allocated for the Less Paper Ordinance, with a significant portion dedicated to procuring laptops for stenographers. RGP