TheCyberLawyer Issue 7, Special Report: The Government Chief Iinformation Officers’ Forum on Egovernance Center of Excellence

Yesterday (July 26, 2007) was an extra special day for me. The government Chief Information Officers Forum (CIOF) held their second general membership meeting at Dusit Hotel with the focus on the eGovernance Center of Excellence (eGov CoE), something that is closely related to my advocacy on good e-governance relative to electronic data. For those who may not be aware, the CIOF was legally established eleven years ago as an organization that embodies the interests and concerns of senior ICT officials in the Philippine government (with a grade of at least 24, as emphasized by its current president, Lilia Guillermo). It envisioned itself to be the partner of government in the strategic utilization of ICT for greater accountability and improved public service, particularly in information intensive government agencies and critical government operations that employ ICT tools. The CIO Forum engages in advocacy work that is geared towards the formulation of relevant ICT policies and promotion of excellence in the management of information in government.

While it caters to the government sector, private firms and NGOs can join as institutional members. As a private practitioner, I am not a member of any of these groups. The CIOF’s Director of Membership, Josefa Vidal, invited me as her special guest. Jo, as she prefers to be called, is the Deputy Director of the Philippine National Police for ICT Matters and is one of the most insightful and candid persons I met in the ICT sector. Through her kindness, I was privileged to be part of this important event.

The eGov CoE is actually a partnership between the government’s Center for Information Communication Technology (CICT) and members from the ICT industry, namely Oracle, HP, Intel, RedHat (Linux) and ePLDT. Representatives from some of these organizations presented several of the core functions and value that their business technologies and solutions offer, to help the Philippine government’s drive to be enabled and empowered in its in various key and critical operations. Mr. Robin Fong and Ms. Luz Guillermo of Oracle discussed the “Oracle Government Treasury Solution” and the “Oracle Public Sector Budgeting Solution” respectively, which are end to end solutions that are geared to assist government agencies in their fiscal planning, expenditures and accounting tasks, with the end in view of increasing transparency and highlighting the responsibility and accountability of the officials involved in the performance of these functions. Mr. Gerry Lim of Hewlett Packard offered an interesting overview of HP’s solution to the issue of e-Procurement. I just wished that there was a representative from Phil-GEPS who could have initiated a dialogue with Mr. Lim on the issues of e-procurement and the relevance of HP’s products in resolving the glitches that sometimes happen in the Phil-GEPS system. ePLDT’s Andrew Smith showed why an all IP contact center with unified multi-media and multi-channel capabilities can serve clients better at less costs than traditional IP centers which have these capabilities integrated to their closed platforms. I enjoyed the IVVR feature which I think is way cool. Special thanks to ePLDT for offering free international and local calls on their booth.


However, the most important talk was given by CICT Commissioner and OIC Timoteo Diaz de Rivera whose “Situationer on the Center of Excellence” highlighted the fact that while important changes have been made, the Philippine government needs to make great strides and changes in its ICT policies, implementation and management of e-data in order to catch up with its neighbors. I am glad that Commissioner Diaz de Rivera stated that CICT is getting local governments involved, like those in Cebu. I do believe that local governments can serve as the all important catalysts of ICT changes in the country. They should be equipped not only with the ICT tools and training but also with the understanding of the importance of e-data as a mechanism for checking and enforcing government responsibility (Please read my article).

In the second half of the meeting, Directors Vidal and Hector John Manaligod of the University of the Philippines, inducted the members of CIOF. The CIOF’s vivacious President Lilia Guillermo closed the event with her report of the significant accomplishments of the CIOF. Indeed, it is the presence of forums like the CIOF which can bring and uplift the state of e-governance in the Philippines. To all the members and officers of CIOF, MABUHAY PO KAYO!

Copyright by Atty. Noel Guivani Ramiscal. The views expressed are my own and do not constitute legal advice. All Rights Reserved.

Preferred citation for this issue:

Ramiscal, Noel Guivani, TheCyberLawyer Issue 7, Special Report: The Government Chief Information Officers’ Forum on eGovernance Center of Excellence (July 27, 2007) (2007) < URL > Date of Access

For comments, write: thecyberlawyer@gmail.com