AN OFFICIAL of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Davao Region said there is a need for a better online system for ease of doing business as well as better performance monitoring of their personnel.
During the weeklong Global Distance Learning Network Program (GDLNP) that DTI and the Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) attended in South Korea, DTI Davao Information Officer III and Knowledge Management Regional Coordinator Jenny Mendoza said they focused on e-governance particularly on how the South Korean government operates and succeeded in doing e-governance in all of their transactions. Mendoza added there is no face-to-face transaction between the citizens and the government personnel as everything is done online.
“As for the Philippine setting, there’s still a lot to be done in order to get to what Korea is experiencing for 50 years now. They just celebrated their 50th anniversary of e-governance. As much as we’d like to get in that level of transacting business or governing the country, still technology-wise, we’re not yet capable. Korea is already starting to integrate artificial intelligence (AI), even in procurement processes, in business name registration, and business permit processing. Everything is done online,” Mendoza said.
She added in Davao Region, they have already partnered with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) in implementing the Business Permit and Licensing System (BPLS) wherein the number of steps and signatories were lessened in securing a business permit. Instead of around 10 signatories, they are now down to only 3 to 5. Currently, the 49 local government units (LGU) of Davao Region are already BPLS compliant.
An e-library is also being developed wherein the data of the agency will be made available to the public. A particular nook in the DTI Davao office is intended for the e-library. However, Mendoza said they plan to make the e-library online to widen the coverage as patterned after South Korea as well.
Aside from that, they are also currently formulating a performance monitoring system which would help them improve the performance assessment monitoring of DTI personnel in the region. They target to finish and launch the system by December.
“The IT-based performance monitoring system of DTI Davao doesn’t only aim to keep track of all personnel’s performance, but also to readily identify their strengths and weaknesses so that necessary and appropriate interventions will be made. Also, this is in response to our desire to be accredited in the Civil Service Commission’s Program to Institutionalize Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resource Management Level III. Currently, we are still on Level II,” she said.