4. E-service delivery

4.1 KEY MILESTONES IN E-SERVICE DELIVERY

The National Computer Centre issued Memorandum Circular 2003-01 to guide national and local government agencies, on the provisions of Section 27 of the e-Commerce Act which mandates that filing, creation, retention, submission of documents, issuance of permits and receipts, and other transactions of governments should be performed using electronic data messages or electronic documents.⁵⁵

In 2003, 373 of the 399 national government agencies had websites. In 2002, local government units that had web presence were the then 79 provinces, 115 cities, and 966 of the 1,496 municipalities, while state universities and colleges had 100% web presence.

A list of online services available on the websites of national government agencies as of February 2015 is provided in Annex 2. However, the level of web presence of most local government units is still in the initial stages of maturity. This means that on these websites, citizens are only able to get basic information, facility for email communication with departments, and download required forms. Websites are still unable to provide citizens with interactive and integrated features. The National Computer Centre reported in 2011 that 75% of 126 cities had websites, though the majority was in stage 1 or 2 of UN-ASPA e-government development.⁵⁶ The indicators given by the National Computer Centre for these stages are in Annex 3.

The Department of Interior and Local Government launched the Full Disclosure Policy Portal⁵⁷ to make it easier for local government units to comply with the Department’s Full Disclosure Policy. Compliance with this policy is a criterion for them to be awarded the Seal of Good Housekeeping along with the accounting and auditing standards of the Commission on Audit. In 2014, the Seal of Good Housekeeping was replaced with the Seal of Good Local Governance, which expanded the award’s criteria from good financial housekeeping to a more comprehensive set including disaster preparedness, social protection, business-friendliness and competitiveness, peace and order, and environmental management.⁵⁸

E-government policies and services are drafted and issued at the national level. National government agencies have implemented their own information systems based on their preferred standards. The e-government Master Plan has indicated the importance of standardizing commonly used hardware and software applications to enable interaction between government services. The Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) intends to reform the government procurement system and increase transparency in transactions, and the Electronic Filing and Payment System (e-FPS) was implemented for more efficient tax payments.

According to the Online Service Index of the UN 2014 E-government Development Index, the Philippines ranks 95th out of 143 countries (a rating of 0.4803), with most online services in the emerging and enhanced stages.⁵⁹ Most government agencies provide a link to other government websites and related e-services, if available. The government is planning to connect related e-services directed toward serving Overseas Filipino Workers. It also seeks to integrate access to statistical information and data that are currently being produced by multiple national government agencies.

4.2 WOMEN’S INCLUSION IN E-SERVICE DELIVERY ARRANGEMENTS

All online government services are open to both women and men. In addition, there are some services that particularly target women. They include:

1. The Technical Vocational Education and Training programme offered by the TESDA women’s centre: The Technical Education and Skills Development Authority in the Philippines (TESDA) was set up in the 1990s to “provide direction (and shape) policies, programmes and standards towards quality technical education and skills development”. TESDA has set up 15 Regional Centres and 45 Provincial Training Centres in the country, one among which is the TESDA Women’s Centre (TWC). The TWC is TESDA’s lead training institution for mainstreaming Gender and Development in TVET and sustaining the integration of GAD components into existing technology-based training programmes. In 2013, TWC piloted a blended learning programme, combining traditional teaching-learning methods with online training. The idea underpinning this initiative was that blended learning will result in more effective learning outcomes when compared to online training for marginalized women, who constitute the majority of trainees in TWC programmes. ICT mediated interfaces were combined with classroom interactions, peer support networks, and guidance and mentorship from trainers.
2. The Conditional Cash Transfer Programme of the Department of Social Welfare and Development: The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program⁶⁰ is a digitally-enabled conditional cash transfer programme with health and education-related conditions for the participating households implemented by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Government of Philippines. Women beneficiaries make up more than 82% of the programme grantees. Women are also a large proportion of the programme’s frontline intermediaries – ‘Parent Leaders’ – who act as mediators between the programme management and beneficiaries, and whose task is to facilitate grievance redress and track beneficiary compliance in their neighbourhoods.

4. 3 ASSESSMENT OF GENDER GAPS IN E-SERVICE DELIVERY

The inclusion of the women’s rights agenda is still taking a back seat in e-service delivery, though there are online services addressing women’s rights issues.

Despite the gender mainstreaming policies of government, efforts have not deeply penetrated the e-government sector, and as a result, government personnel have varying levels of appreciation for gender concepts and issues. And some emerging issues such as online VAW are not adequately covered in e-government capacitybuilding. Though there are courses offered by agencies such as the National Computer Centre and the Career Executives Service Board in the area of building e-government leadership, most of these courses are silent on women’s empowerment and gender equality issues in e-government. In fact, some trainers interviewed for this research insisted that ICT is gender neutral or that it is difficult to integrate gender in ICT courses.