The Philippines as a global E-Gov leader

E-governance, or electronic governance, according to IGI Global, is "the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to provide government services and information to citizens, businesses, and other government entities."

- ATTY. MIKE TOLEDO

It aims to improve efficiency, transparency, and citizen engagement in government processes. Essentially, it's about using digital tools to make government more accessible, responsive, and accountable to the people it governs.

The key aspects of e-governance are service delivery, information dissemination, citizen engagement, intergovernmental cooperation, transparency and accountability, and efficiency and cost-savings.

Some examples of e-governance are online tax filing, digital IDs, online voting, e-procurement, e-payment and online citizen portals.

People might think that because e-governance makes use of ICT or digital technology then it is something that happened fairly recently.

Truth be told, e-governance has been with the Philippine government since the last century.

It was in 1971 that the National Computer Center (NCC) was established by then President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, father of the current President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., through Executive Order No. 322.

In 1978, the NCC was designated as the primary government agency responsible for directing IT use for national development and rationalizing the computerization of the country.

In 1994, Executive Order No. 190 (President Fidel V. Ramos) created the National Information Technology Council (NITC) and designated it as the central policy body on ICT matters in the country.