President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday said the country’s digital landscape is “worrying” as it experiences a “regression” amid the availability of many innovations and new technologies.
The President made the observation during the National Information and Communications Technology Summit 2022 at the Manila Hotel in Manila where he called for the expediting of digitalization in government, including the passage of important measures to help build a better and more progressive future for the country’s information and communications technology (ICT) sector.
“When we look at the record, our country has ranked 89 out of 193 countries in the United Nations e-government survey, and that is not an encouraging number. This survey assesses the digital government’s landscape across members-states, and this assessment of our performance is at the very least worrying. We experienced actually a regression, in other words, other countries have progressed, we have not progressed quite as much and therefore, falling down the list of the egovernance in our different member countries of the UN,” he said.
What is worse is that it is happening when there are many innovations and technologies in ICT that are “open and widely available,” he added.
“Clearly, we will do better. Our ICT professionals are among the best in the field and Filipinos are among the most tech-savvy people in the world. There is essentially nothing holding us back,” he noted.
The President urged stakeholder to help the country to forge ahead and build a better, brighter and more progressive future for the ICT sector, the bureaucracy and the entire country.
Marcos called for a more cohesive public-private collaboration to optimize the opportunities provided by ICT for nation-building.
He also called on Congress to immediately pass measures such as the E-Governance and E-Government bills that would ensure fast, transparent and efficient government service.
The President said the country could achieve its target of becoming a digitalized country by enhancing its digital infrastructure, improving the regulatory framework for innovation, ensuring cybersecurity and developing the country’s digital workforce.
“We have to digitalize if we are going to keep up. All our plans for the transformation of the economy and our continuing redefinition of the Philippines’ place in the community of nations, all of that depend upon your work, and that we are able to do all the important work that we are trying to achieve. And that can only be done if we have a digitalized government,” he said.
