IPSTAR Technology Best For the Philippines

One of the best ways to improve the situation in the Philippines, especially in its centralized governance, is to use the same example as in the government at Donsol.

This humble part of the Philippines used to be a sleepy coastal town in Sorsogon – a province in the southernmost tip of Luzon. Long time back, nobody knows the place except for its local inhabitants, until a few years ago when tourists began to flock this remote place to take a look and see the biggest fish on Earth, called the “whale shark.”

According to IPSTAR news (see original source here: http://www.ipstar.com/ph/success_ipstar_helps.html) as the government seeing the increase in local population due to the booming tourism industry, the local government of Donsol focused its efforts towards ICT applications that will effectively enhance the delivery of frontline government services to its constituents.

Through the Philippine government's broadband connectivity project – dubbed as ‘Jumpstarting Electronic Governance in Local Government Units (eLGU)' – Donsol has been provided with an IPSTAR broadband Internet connection by We are IT (WIT). The newly installed IPSTAR network proves to be not only beneficial to the LGUs and its employees, but also to the town's constituents.

In the past, local residents need to go to government offices just to pay their taxes or to apply for a business license. This traditional way of service delivery in most rural LGUs is slow, expensive, and oftentimes time-consuming – especially for the villagers who are living in far-flung areas outside the town center.

With the eLGU project, government offices are able to deliver better and faster online services via IPSTAR at lesser costs, while generating higher revenue for Donsol's local government. Town residents now file their applications for business license or pay their taxes directly from their homes, offices or any Internet cafe. In addition, notification of tax dues and payment status can also be checked via eLGU's online service.

The eLGU project also promotes information dissemination as it gives constituents and investors anytime, anywhere access to critical information via Donsol's local website. “With vital information exposed to public scrutiny via the government's website, e-governance would mean lesser opportunities for graft and corruption. Enhanced transparency will definitely give the public a clearer picture of what is happening in various government offices”, said a local resident.

With this approach, I am very confident that President Noynoy Aquino’s visions for the Philippines will surely be helped by this strategy.

So, if the Philippines will study extensively the case in Donsol and the other parts of the country applying the same strategy, and apply this same to at least 95% of the country’s populated islands, then I am pretty sure Filipinos will be in different and higher level in many aspects of their lives.

Technologies like the one used with IPSTAR would be of great help to achieve the greatest dream of the all the Filipino people – eliminating poverty and scary crimes happening all around the country. And of course, prayers are also needed to attain this dream.