Republic of the Philippines is
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES //;
Queson City ff

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 277

Introduced by HON. LUIS RAYMUND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.,
HON. MIGUEL LUIS R. VILLAFUERTE, HON. TSUYOSHI ANTHONY HORIBATA
AND HON. NICOLAS ENCISO VIII

AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE E-GOVERNMENT, DEFINING ITS POWERS AND
FUNCTIONS, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

The government's commitment to using Information Technology has come a long way
from the creation of the National Computer Center in 1971 to the drafting of the E-
Government Master Plan in support Of the Philippine Digital Strategy during the
previous administration. The government ought to fully utilize the newly created
Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to integrate
Information and Communications Technology development in its departments instead
of having agency specific applications.

This bill aims to pave the way for the establishment of effective E-Government plans
that create more valuable and meaningful services through interoperability and
maximization of resources, which are part of the powers and functions of the DICT.
More efficient government services through the E-Government seek to minimize
corruption by minimizing the human intervention component in government
transactions. The issue of interoperability and harmonization is not solely a technical
problem, but also includes many organizational concerns that need to be overcome.
This bill is designed to strengthen ICT use in the government in order to make its
implementation possible and sustainable.

Considering the merits of this bill, its immediate approval is earnestly SQught.

Ve

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v IND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR. EVILLAFUERTE
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TSUYOSHI ANTHONY G. HORIBATA NICOLAS ENCI80 VIII
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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Queson City

NINETEENTH CONGRESS
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO. 277

Introduced by HON. LUIS RAYMUND “LRAY” F. VILLAFUERTE, JR.,
HON. MIGUEL LUIS R. VILLAFUERTE, HON. TSUYOSHI ANTHONY HORIBATA
AND HON. NICOLAS ENCISO VIII

AN ACT ESTABLISHING THE E-GOVERNMENT, DEFINING ITS POWERS AND
FUNCTIONS, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR, AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "E-Government Act".

SECTION 2. Declaration of Policy. — The State hereby adopts the following policies.

1) The State shall provide effective leadership for the government to develop and
promote electronic government services and processes;

2) The State shall provide increased opportunities for citizen participation in
government;

3) The State shall promote inter-agency collaboration in providing electronic
government services;

4) The State shall promote the use of the Internet and emerging technologies
within and across government agencies to provide citizen-centric government

information and services;

6) The State shall ensure that costs and burdens are reduced for businesses and
other government entities;

7) The State shall promote better-informed decision-making by policy makers;

8) The State shall promote access to high quality government information and
services across multiple channels; and


9) The State shall make the government more transparent and accountable.

SECTION 3. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act, the following terms are
defined as follows:

(a) Information and Communications Technology or ICT shall mean the totality of
electronic means to access, create, collect, store, process, receive, transmit, present
and disseminate information,

(b) Electronic Government or E-Government shall mean the use of ICT by the
government and the public to enhance the access to and delivery of government
services to bring about efficient, responsive, ethical, accountable and transparent
government service;

(c) _ ICT-Enabled Services shall mean those engaged in providing services that
require the intrinsic use of ICTs including engineering or architectural design,
informatics service providers, offshoring and outsourcing service providers such as
call centers, back office processing, software development, medical or legal
transcription, animation, game development, and other services that require the
intrinsic use Of a networked information infrastructure;

(d) Chief Information Officer or CIO shall mean a senior officer in all national
government agencies (NGAs), including constitutional offices, state universities and
colleges (SUCs), government-owned and —controlled corporations (GOCCs), and
government financial institutions (GFls) responsible for the development and
management Of the agency's ICT systems and applications;

(e) Interoperability shall mean the ability of different operating and software
systems, applications, and services to communicate and exchange data in an
accurate, effective, and consistent manner.

SECTION 4. E-Government Master Plan. — The Department of Information and
Communications Technology shall establish and promote an E-Government Master
Plan to encourage excellence in facilitating the development and enhancement of all
electronic Government services and processes. The E-Government Master Plan shall
be reviewed and revised every three years.

SECTION 5. E-Government Programs. - The E-Government Master Plan shall
include, but not limited to, the following programs:

1) Philippine Government Interoperability Framework. — A Philippine government
interoperability framework shall be developed to guide and govern basic technical
and informational interoperability of government ICT systems. Such a framework will
guide all shared operations and services of the Philippine government—between and
among its various agencies, as well as for these agencies in dealing with their
various constituencies.

2) Archives and Records Management Information System. — An archives and
records management information system shall be designed to systematically and
efficiently manage government documents and records. This includes the digitization
of paper based documents and records and the development of systems that will


manage these documents — from creation, routing, tracking, and archiving to
disposal — while adhering to existing policies, laws and ISO standards.

3) Government Online Payment System. — An Internet-based electronic payment
facility and gateway that will enable citizens and businesses to remit payments
electronically to government agencies shall be created. It shall render services
through various delivery channels, which include debit instructions (ATM accounts),
credit instructions (credit cards) and mobile wallets (SMS),

4) _ Citizen Frontline Delivery Services. — Services that are needed to facilitate
business registration-related transactions shall be made efficient by integrating all
agencies involved in business registration, such as the Department of Trade and
Industry (DTI), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Cooperative
Development Authority

(CDA), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Home
Development Mutual Fund (PagIBIG), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation
(PhilHealth), Local Government Units (LGUs) and other permitlicense-issuing
agencies

5) Public Financial Management. — Various financial systems in government
(e.g. taxation, payment systems, accounting, business registries) shall be
harmonized and managed.

6) Procurement System - An online and real-time service that encompasses all
procurement processes involving bidding, contract agreements, and payment for
services or supplies shall also be developed.

The E-Government Master Plan shall likewise include the following:
1 Inventory and purchase of hardware and software of all government offices.
2. Utilization of servers, network connections and data centers in all government

offices.

3. Security, disaster recovery plans and archiving considering existing services
and capabilities already available as well as future information systems.

4. Standardization of systems across government agencies to promote
interoperability and database management.

SECTION 6. DICT Secretary as E-Government Head. —The Secretary of the
Department of Information and Communications Technology shall head the
EGovernment initiative. The Secretary is expected to spearhead all aspects of
accomplishing the implementation of the E- Government Master Plan to catalyze the
optimum use of ICT in government to expand and improve public services,
government operations and capabilities.

SECTION 7. Chief Information Officers. — Chief Information Officers will be assigned
and deployed to national and key governmental units with the function of.


1. Advising agencies on how best to leverage ICTs to optimize the delivery of public
services, and achieve efficient and cost effective operations;

2. Developing, maintaining and managing the agency's information systems;

3. Managing and supervising the implementation of ICT-based projects, systems
and processes;

4 Formulating and implementing processes in relation to the adoption of CT-based
solutions as provided by the E-Government plan;

5. Managing operational risks related to ICT in coordination with the agency's
management and stakeholders; and

6. Ensuring that the ICT programs and operations are consistent with national
policies and standards.

SECTION 8. LGU ICT Officers. - Each Local Government Unit shall have an
Information Officer assigned to manage and supervise its adoption of the E-
Government Plan. The LGU ICT Officer is likewise tasked to spearhead seminars
and other means of educating the community to maximize E-Government initiatives.

SECTION 9. E-Government Status Report. - Each agency and local government unit
shall compile and submit an annual E-Government Status Report on— (A) the status
Of the implementation of electronic government initiatives; (B) compliance by the
agency with this Act; and (C) performance in delivering programs through the E-
Government to constituencies.

SECTION 10. Appropriation. — The amount needed for the initial implementation of
this Act shall be taken from the current fiscal year's appropriation of the ICTO and all
agencies herein absorbed by or attached to the Department of Information and
Communications Technology.

SECTION 41. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — The DICT shall issue within
sixty (60) days from the effectivity of this Act, the necessary rules and regulations for
the effective implementation of this Act.

SECTION 12. Separability Clause. — If any provision of this Act shall be declared
unconstitutional or invalid, the other provisions not otherwise affected shall remain in
full force and effect.

SECTION 13. Repealing Clause. — Alll laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and
regulations and other issuances or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this Act
are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SECTION 14. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its
publication in at least two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,