DAVAO CITY—Bangsamoro Government along with 12 local government units signed a memorandum of agreements on Feb. 7 for the implementation and institutionalization of Localizing E-Governance for Accelerated Provision of Services or LeAPS Program.
LeAPS is a flagship program of the Ministry of Interior and Local Government (MILG) in partnership with UNDP Philippines that support the Office of Chief Minister through the ministries and BARMM-LGUs aimed at co-creating and bringing meaningful citizen-centric services towards the digital transformation for a more data-centric development planning and empowered Bangsamoro.
Among the 12 LGUs which entered into an agreement are Parang, Sultan Kudarat, Datu Blah Sinsuat, and Buluan of two Maguindanaos, Butig, Marantao, Piagapo, and Taraka of Lanao del Sur, while in the island provinces include the municipality of Bongao, Tawi-Tawi, Talipao of Sulu and Lamitan City of Basilan.
“Digitalization is very good, instead of hiring a lot of manpower it will be reduced like in other countries you will see only a few employees, but the administration is functioning well and fast,” MILG Deputy Minister Abunawas Maslamama said during the 2-day strategic consultation meeting at Waterfront Insular Hotel in this city.
Also present at the event was Mayor Dimnatang Pansar of Butig Lanao del Sur, who said their municipality is privileged to have been chosen as one of the pilot municipalities, adding, “for about two years, we achieved a lot of benefits from this program”.
“Our signal is very weak because we are far from Marawi; LeAPS helped us a lot, it accelerated the delivery of public services like issuance of business permits, and live birth certificates among others,” Pansar shared.
Meanwhile, UNDP-LeAPS program manager, Mitzi Anne Mendoza assured that LeAPs will provide public service delivery by harnessing the power of information through technology, and to link the government to the Bangsamoro community to improve their living conditions. (Majid Nur/BIO)
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