Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. ______ 
INTRODUCED BY REP. HARRIS CHRISTOPHER M. ONGCHUAN 
EXPLANATORY NOTE 
The potential to streamline and improve the efficiency of government processes 
is immense due to the wide availability of digital technologies in the market. Due to 
the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, we have seen a rise in contact-
less procedures in accomplishing daily tasks such as bills payment, communication, 
data storage, video conferencing, and many more. These methods have also proven to 
be faster, easy to understand, and convenient. 
In the past, other governments understood the usefulness of digital technology, 
as the shift towards E-government has become a trend worldwide. This trend did not 
only see the benefits in convenience and efficiency, but also in cost-effectiveness on 
the part of the government and the people. For instance, the E-government will 
minimize the need to visit government offices, cutting down costs on travel. 
Hence, this legislation aims to integrate digital technology into the processes of 
the government, in hopes of reducing red tape, making transactions with the 
government more convenient, and bringing government closer to the people. 
Through the E-government Master Plan, the Information Communications 
Technology (ICT) employed by various government agencies will be integrated with 
each other, boosting interoperability, transactions such as paying taxes will be made 
easier through an online payment system, and the government will be made more 
transparent through an open-access online archive. 
In the 17th Congress, this bill was filed by Rep. Luis Raymund “LRay” F. 
Villafuerte Jr., and was received by the Senate in the 18th Congress. 
August 30, 2022
8:02 am
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Considering the merits of this Bill, its immediate approval is earnestly sought. 
  HARRIS CHRISTOPHER M. ONGCHUAN 


 Republic of the Philippines 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
Quezon City 
NINETEENTH CONGRESS 
First Regular Session 
HOUSE BILL NO. _________ 
Introduced by Representative 
HARRIS CHRISTOPHER M. ONGCHUAN 
AN ACT  
ESTABLISHING THE E-GOVERNMENT, DEFINING ITS POWERS AND 
FUNCTIONS, 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;
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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 (PaglBlG), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation 
(PhilHealth), Local Government Units (LGUs) and other permit/license-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 11. 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. — All laws, decrees, executive orders, rules and 
regulations and other issues 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.