Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benhur Abalos on Wednesday said that 60% or 921 out of 1,634 cities and municipalities in the country are now using electronic systems to process business permits and licenses.

Abalos issued the statement during a press briefing in Malacanang, following the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to speed up the government’s digitalization efforts.

He also noted that the digitalization of LGU frontline services helped increase total revenue collection to P288 billion from P50 billion in 2018.

“Like what President Marcos had said, digital transformation is key for the country’s full economic recovery. Susi po ito para mapaunlad ang ating ekonomiya at mapabilis ang proseso lalong-lalo na sa pagkuha ng business permits at licenses,” he said.

The DILG chief elaborated that of the 921 LGUs, 799 employ the Electronic Local Government Unit or the eLGU system, while 122 localities have their own innovative systems.

The eLGU platform is among the vital components of the Gov.PH Super App that was developed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT).

It is a mobile application that integrates multi-sectoral government services in a single platform — covering a wide range of functions such as business permit licensing, community tax, local civil registry, and many others.

To attain the Marcos administration’s target of 100% full digitalization of LGU frontline services, the DILG, DICT and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), are jointly working and assessing the capabilities of every LGU in integrating online services in their processes.

They plan to employ the eLGU system in 240 more LGUs this year.

For his part, DICT Undersecretary David Almirol, Jr. said the government’s digitalization efforts directly tackle some of the more painful bureaucratic pain points of doing business in the country, such as red tape and long queues due to manual processing.

“This is exciting news for everyone. Pwede na tayong mag-avail ng LGU services kahit nasa bahay lang,” Almirol said.

“In the past, kailangan mo mag-absent sa trabaho, pumila ng mahaba sa municipal or city hall. Ngayon, kahit nasa bahay ka na lang,” he added.

Original Article at: https://www.dilg.gov.ph/news/For-easier-faster-business-processing-Abalos-reports-60-of-LGUs-now-using-automated-system/NC-2024-1017