aO
NINETEENTH CONGRESS OF THE ] 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ] 
First Regular Session 
]
SENATE 
s.B. No.___
of ti}f €"
*22 JUL 18 A10:03
RKC£iV;cD3Y:
Introduced by SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN
AN ACT
MANDATING THE FULL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF ALL GOVERNMENT 
AGENCIES, OFFICES AND CORPORATIONS, INCLUDING LOCAL 
GOVERNMENT UNITS, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Governments are facing increasing expectations to deliver innovative and 
responsive public services effectively and promptly, while dealing with strong 
pressures to consolidate public finances to remain globally competitive and to spur 
growth.1 However, governments have been slow in using digital technology to change 
the way it delivers necessary services to the general public.
In the Philippines, the e-Government Master Plan, thru the Medium-Term 
Information Technology Harmonization Initiative (MITHI), and related e-Government 
(e-Gov) and Integrated Government Philippines (iGovPhil) programs have been 
launched as early as 2012 by then Information and Communication Technology Office 
of the Department of Science and Technology. While e-Gov and iGovPhil programs 
laid the foundation necessary for the Philippines to build its technology capabilities by 
establishing government data centers, installing initial Wi-Fi facilities, providing
1 "OECD Comparative Study: Digital Government Strategies f0r: Transforming Public Sen/ices in the 
Welfare Areas", p. 6, 2016.
■ V 
‘ii'


government agencies with internet-based shared services,2 the Philippines has been 
very slow in integrating the use of digital technology in its modernization efforts to 
improve the delivery of its services.
The benefits of digitization and digitalization cannot be overemphasized, 
especially its potential to increase productivity and inclusiveness of service production 
and delivery in public welfare area considering that digitization and digitalization can 
be a precursor to establishing and maintaining sound fiscal policies in the long run.
Thus, this measure will mandate a time frame for the full digital transformation 
of the government to compel government agencies, offices, instrumentalities, 
corporations and units to adopt a digitization and digitalization strategy aligned with 
the Philippine Digital Transformation Strategy 2022 of the Department of Information 
and Communication Technology or such other strategy as may be approved later on. 
This includes the creation of a Digital Transformation department in every agency and 
office, which will perform functions beyond the current responsibilities of their 
Information, Communications and Technology Department if already existing. It will 
also oblige them to fully provide by 2025 an integrated E-Government services by 
using digital technologies in administrative processes and in modernizing the delivery 
of public services to the public. It likewise imposes penalties and liabilities to public 
officers and employees who continuously refuse or unwarrantediy delay the adoption 
of digitization efforts without any justifiable reason, among others.
Accordingly, the passage of this measure is earnestly sodght.
2 Philippine Digital Transformation Strategy 2022, Department of Information and Communications 
Technology.


NINETEENTH CONGRESS OF THE ] 
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ] 
First Regular Session 
]
SENATE 
S.B. No.
Senate
•22 JUL18 mm
RECEIVED BY:
Introduced by SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN
AN ACT
MANDATING THE FULL DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF ALL GOVERNMENT 
AGENCIES, OFFICES AND CORPORATIONS, INCLUDING LOCAL 
GOVERNMENT UNITS, APPROPRIATING FUNDS THEREFOR AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES
Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Phiiippines in 
Congress assembied:
1 
SECTION 1. Short Title. - This Act shall be known as the "Full Digital
2 
Transformation Act".
3
4 
SEC. 2. Declaration of Policy. - It is hereby declared a policy of the State to
5 
afford efficient and cost-effective public services to citizens and businesses in the
6 
country. Towards this end, it is necessary to employ information technologies (IT) in
7 
public administration and in the delivery of public services, to improve organizational
8 
and inter-government coordination thru digital transformation of basic services,
9 
streamlining and integration of workflows and processes and enhancing the
10 
government workforce's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) capacity.
11 
It is likewise necessary for the government to effectively manage and secure its data.


1 
information and transactions with the public, as well as expand communication
2 
channels for engagement and empowerment of the Filipino people.
3 
SEC. 3. Integrated E-Government Services. - All government offices, agencies,
4 
government-owned and controlled corporations, instrumentalities and all local
5 
government units are mandated to adopt a digitization and digitalization strategy In
6 
accordance with the Philippine Digital Transformation Strategy 2022 and as may be
7 
further amended by the Department of Information and Communications Technology
8 
(DICT), and to fully-provide integrated E-Government services to the public by
9 
December 31, 2025. For this purpose, these offices, agencies and corporations shall 
10 -
11 
(a) immediately take measures to set-up electronic and online systems that will
12 
make the means of exchanging data and information between offices,
13 
departments and agencies secure, efficient and seamless;
14 
(b) streamline procedures by adopting automation, digitization and digitization
15 
of government services to promote zero-contact policy and to facilitate its
16 
efficient delivery in accordance with Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of
17 
Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018,
18 
Republic Act No. 11234 or the Energy Virtual One-Stop Shop Act, and other
19 
applicable laws;
20 
(c) build-up its technology capabilities, including the establishment of
21 
government data centers, data repositories, basic messaging and electronic
22 
mail facilities, encryption systems and cyber-security facilities;
23 
(d) pursuant to and in accordance with Republic Act No. 11055 or the Philippine
24 
Identification System Act, Republic Act No. 11315 or the Community-Based
25 
Monitoring Systems Act, and other applicable laws, harmonize common data
26 
related to persons, transportation, business and land; reference data widely
27 
used as a standard across multiple domains such as those pertaining to
28 
industry, occupational and commodity classifications, tariff, geographical


1 
information; and regional and international data standards that are bound
2 
to unilateral or bilateral treaties or agreements;
3 
(e) support agency onboarding on open-source systems advocated and offered
4 
by the DICT; and
5 
(0 invest heavily into developing organizational capability and staff
6 
competencies that are well-suited to support national digital transformation.
7
8 
SEC. 4. Creation of Digital Transformation Department. - A Digital
9 
Transformation Department (DTD) shall be created in every government agency,
10 
office, corporation, instrumentality, and unit. In case an Information &
11 
Communications Technology (ICT) Department already exists, the same shall be
12 
transformed into a DTD. The DTD shall perform the functions of the existing ICT
13 
Department, if any, of various agencies, offices, corporations, instrumentalities, and
14 
units, as well as to be primarily tasked to perform the following functions and
15 
responsibilities:
16 
a) promote and support the onboarding and training of government personnel
17 
in using eGov services aligned with the government's digital transformation
18 
strategy;
19 
b) speed up the acquisition and adoption of solutions of the agency, office,
20 
corporation, instrumentality, or unit, and improving support capabilities to
21 
other departments;
22 
c) obtain and monitor networking tools to create channels of communication
23 
with the general public and secure real-time feedback on the relevance and
24 
quality of services it provides;
25 
d) provide a system that will allow and promote coordination among various
26 
departments or offices to ensure that workflows, responsibilities and
27 
accountabilities are properly tracked to allow the transacting public to know
28 
the status of their requests at any given time; and


e) design service processes and procedures that will promote efficiency and 
sense of expediency in the government.
3 
SEC. 5. Violations and Persons Liable. - Any person who performs or cause the
4 
performance of the following acts shall be liable under this Act, in addition to violations
5 
under other laws, rules and regulations:
6 
(a) Willful refusal or delaying to adopt or use the agency's digitization or
7 
digitalization efforts to streamline its procedures, to harmonize its data, and
8 
to improve its technological capabilities, without any justifiable reason;
9 
(b) Continuous use of proprietary legacy systems that were implemented for
10 
more than ten (10) years, despite digitization or digitalization efforts of the
11 
agency, office, corporation, instrumentality, or unit;
12 
(c) Continuous refusal to upgrade or update its IT systems for at most three
13 
(3) years without justifiable cause;
14 
(d) Fixing and/or collusion with fixers in consideration of economic and/or other
15 
gain or advantage to delay the implementation of the agency's digitization
16 
or digitalization efforts; or
17 
(e) Failure to render government services within the prescribed processing time
18 
on any application or request due to refusal or delay in the implementation
19 
of the agency's digitization or digitalization efforts.
20
21 
SEC. 6. Penalties and Liabilities; Administrative Jurisdiction. - Any violations of
22 
the preceding actions will warrant the following penalties and liabilities:
23 
(a) First offense: administrative liability with six (6) months suspension:
24 
Provided, however, that in the case of fixing and/or collusion with fixers
25 
under Section 5(d), the penalty and liability under Sec. 6(b) of this Act shall
26 
apply.
27 
(b) Second offense: Administrative and criminal liability of dismissal from the
28 
service, perpetual disqualification from holding public office and forfeiture


1 
of retirement benefits and imprisonment of one (1) year to six (6) years
2 
with a fine of not less than Five hundred thousand pesos (P500,000.00) but
3 
not more than Two million pesos (Php2,000,000.00)
4 
Criminal liability shall also be incurred through the commission of bribery,
5 
extortion or when violation was done deliberately and maliciously to solicit favor in
6 
cash or in kind. In such cases, the pertinent provisions of the Revised Penal Code and
7 
other special laws shall apply.
8 
The administrative jurisdiction on any violation of the provisions of this Act shall
9 
be vested in either the Civil Service Commission or the Office of the Ombudsman as
10 
determined by appropriate laws and issuances.
11 
The finding of administrative liability under this Act shall not bar the filing of
12 
criminal, civil or other related charges under existing laws arising from the same act
13 
or omission enumerated herein.
14
15 
SEC. 7. Appropriations. — All national government offices, agencies, and
16 
instrumentalities, and local government units shall incorporate the amount necessary
17 
in the implementation of this Act in the annua! General Appropriations Act. All
18 
government-owned and controlled corporations shall source the amount necessary
19 
for the implementation of this Act from their respective corporate funds in the
20 
corporate operation budget approved by the Department of Budget and Management.
21
22 
SEC. 8. Implementing Rules and Regulations. — Within ninety (90) days from
23 
the effectivity of this Act, the Department of Information and Communication
24 
Technology (DICT), in consultation with appropriate government agencies and other
25 
stakeholders, shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to implement this
26 
Act.
27 
The DICT shall implement, oversee, monitor and evaluate compliance by
28 
various agencies, offices, instrumentalities, corporations, and units with the objectives
29 
and provisions of this Act.


1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 
9
10
11
SEC. 9. Separability Clause. - If any provision of this Act is declared Invalid or 
unconstitutional, the provisions not affected thereby shall remain in full force and 
effect.
SEC. 10. Repealing Clause. - All laws, presidential decrees, executive orders, 
presidential proclamations, rules and regulations or parts thereof contrary to or 
inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.
SEC. 11. Effectivity. - This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its 
publication in the Official Gazette or at least two (2) national papers of general 
circulation.
Approved,