PH seeks digital partnerships with U.S., India
MANILA, PHILIPPINES — The Philippines wants to collaborate with the United States (U.S.) and India to construct digital public infrastructures.
According to House Speaker Martin Romualdez, “It is very important for the Philippines, India, and the U.S. to lead in this digital public infrastructure initiative because nations have much to gain from this.”
He added building public digital platforms aligns with the campaign promise of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to speed up the country’s digital transformation.
“This is the reason why the House of Representatives has passed the E-Governance/E-Government Bill, which seeks to shift the entire bureaucracy to the digital space for faster and transparent delivery of services, and for better engagement with the public,” Romualdez added.
The Philippine House of Representatives passed on third reading an e-governance bill last March 6. A counterpart bill in the Senate is currently at the committee level.
If passed into law, digitizing paper documents and processes is expected to encourage cooperation between the government and the private sector in improving the ease of doing business.
“Digitalization will definitely prove to be the panacea to the economic problems left behind by COVID-19,” Romualdez concluded.
India’s IT and business process management industries account for over 55% of the global outsourcing market. Meanwhile, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) allotted US$18 million to help Philippine small and medium enterprises enhance their digitalization transformation.
