The Department of Information Communications and Technology (DICT) is set to roll out a one-stop government data center where online applications for various documents can be made, a senior official from the department said. “Magkakaroon po ng national government data center. It will be one Web site or one portal. Lahat po ng serbisyo, lahat po ng information, lahat po ng data ng government agencies napapaloob doon (We will have a national government data center. It will be one Web site or one portal. All services, information and data of government agencies will be included there),” DICT Undersecretary Jorge V. Sarmiento said during a committee hearing at the House of Representatives last week.

Mr. Sarmiento said the department has asked the Palace to issue an executive order on the establishment of the project “as soon as possible.”

“Kung mag-aapply po kayo ng marriage certificate… passport, driver’s license, clearance, registration, birth certificate, death certificate, online na po lahat (If you are going to apply for marriage certificate, passport, driver’s license, clearance, registration, birth certificate, death certificate, everything will be online),” said Mr. Sarmiento.

“We have a project in IGovPhil — the digital certificates and digital signatures, so that when you apply for passport, driver’s license, you can do it at home, coffee shop, school or public library but the signature must be authentic, so there’s a digital signature requirement,” he explained further.

IGovPhil refers to Integrated Government Philippines, a project launched in 2012 that seeks to provide infrastructure for transparent e-governance.

Mr. Sarmiento said once the project will be rolled out, all applications can be done in “one-sitting,” eliminating long queues in government agencies.

This was one of the three marching orders by President Rodrigo R. Duterte in his first State of the Nation Address. Other orders were the creation of the National Broadband Network and the establishment of free Wi-Fi in public places such as schools and parks.

The DICT, Mr. Sarmiento said, also wants to support the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry by helping them in animation, medical transcription, game development and graphics as “BPO’s future is there.”

Mr. Sarmiento also presented before lawmakers the department’s legislative agenda topped by the amendment or repeal of Commonwealth Act No. 146 — or the Public Service Act of 1936, which provides a penalty of only P200 for erring telco companies.

He also sought the enactment of measures on cyberbullying, cybersecurity and cyberfraud as well as bills on telecommunication service standards.

The DICT is a four-month-old department carved out of the Department of Transportation and Communications, and it is the “primary policy, planning, coordinating, implementing and administrative entity of the Executive Branch” tasked to “plan, develop and promote the national ICT development agenda.”

Source: www.bworldonline.com