Digital Cities and e-Governance in the Philippines: …...Digital Cities and e-Governance in the...

Digital Cities and e-Governance in the Philippines: The Naga City Case

FRANK M. MENDOZACity Administrator, Naga City, Philippines

Outline• The Setting

• Naga City’s Governance Model

• Naga’s City’s e-Governance Initiatives

• e-Governance Outcomes

What Naga is NotWhat Naga is Not

NOT A BIG CITY. Of the 114 Philippine cities, 63rd

in terms of land area and 53rd in terms of population

NOT A PORT CITY.Landlocked; no access to the sea and, therefore, at a disadvantage compared to Manila, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and General Santos

NOT CENTRALLY-LOCATED.Approximately 450 kilometers from both Manila and Cebu; not even Bicol’s regional government center

THE SETTINGTHE SETTING

What Naga IsWhat Naga Is

RECOGNIZED CENTER OF LOCAL INNOVATIONS. More than 40 national and international recognition– including the 1998 Dubai International Award for having one of the Top 10 Best Practices worldwide.

LIVABLE CITY. Says Interface, the newsmagazine of the League of Cities.

STRONG NON-GOVERNMENT SECTOR. In the form of civic, business and people’s organizations. More than 100 are accredited with the city.

TOOK ADVANTAGE OF LOCAL AUTONOMY. The state policy to promote local autonomy has helped Naga mainly because it has helped itself, crafting innovations that even antedate the Local Government Code.

THE SETTINGTHE SETTING

NAGA GOVERNANCE MODELNAGA GOVERNANCE MODEL

Progressive development perspective - based on “growth with equity” as a core philosophyFunctional partnerships -vehicles that enable the city to tap community resources for priority undertakingsParticipation - mechanisms that generate stakeholder-ship and ownership over local undertakings

Participation

Progressiveperspective

Partnerships

Good urban governance


Progressive Development PerspectiveProgressive Development Perspective

• a function of the local leadership

• In the case of Naga, given its problems in 1988, had to involve:

• confidence-building measures

• sharing with the community a vision for the city

• leadership by example


CORE PHILOSOPHY: “GROWTH WITH EQUITYGROWTH WITH EQUITY””

Shows an enlightened perception of the poor. It seeks to:

Promote economic development

(growth)

Sustain the implementation of pro-poor projects (equity-building)


Functional PartnershipsFunctional Partnerships

•Multiplies the local government’s capacity and enables it to overcome resource constraints

•May be:

• for growth or equity-building strategies

• with community groups or individuals

• government-initiated or private-led

NAGA GOVERNANCE MODEL NAGA GOVERNANCE MODEL

People ParticipationPeople Participation

•Borne out of the belief that the extent of the city government’s success is contingent on how people respond to its initiatives

•Mechanisms to ensure the inclusion of individuals and the community in decision-making

•Mainstreams and engages people in governance

•Promotes long-term sustainability by generating broad-based ownership of initiatives

•Promotes the partner-beneficiary concept

The i-Governance Program• Seeks to bring the partnerships-

driven model of governing in the city into the next stage – anchored on stronger participation

by individual citizens

Partnerships are biased towards organized groups for

practical and operational reasons

i-Governance seeks to overcome this inherent limitation by opening wider avenues for

participation of individuals in governing the city

Applying the frameworkApplying the framework

Operating Principles• inclusive governance, which seeks to embrace,

rather than exclude, individuals, peoples and sectors in running government

• information openness, which demonstrates that information is power, and truly empowering when placed at the hand of the citizens

• interactive engagement, which puts premium on information exchange through continuing dialog between authority and constituency, and

• innovative management, which is committed to a culture of excellence sustained by creativity and innovations

NAGA GOVERNANCE MODEL NAGA GOVERNANCE MODEL

Why focus first on GOVERNANCE first?Why focus first on GOVERNANCE first?

• Because e-Governance is at its heart about governance, not about technology; it is improving people’s lives, not adoption of ICT

• Commitment first to good governance is essential before ICT should be introduced

• Adopting the “e” in the absence of good governance practices risks the chance that our efficiency won’t translate into better lives for our people.

The “e” in e-Governance is to make good governance better by making it:

• More open and accountable• More effective as a service provider• More transparent in its policies• More sensitive and responsive to citizen

opinions• Have a more efficient and productive

bureacracy• A tool to strengthen civic pride and identity

with place

• Posting of annual budgets of all offices of the city government

• Posting of periodic statements of financial positions

• Posting of Invitation to Bids, results of bidding, summary of monthly procurements, unit costs

ee--GOVERNANCE INITIATIVESGOVERNANCE INITIATIVES

•More transparent and accountable•Tool: www.naga.gov.ph

• Posting an extensive catalog of the over 250 services provided by the city government including:– PROCEDURES– RESPONSE TIME– RESPONSIBLE PERSON– DOWNLOADABLE FORMS

• Services listed are directed equally at investors and upper class as they are to the urban poor.

• Streetlight requests will be acted upon within one day regardless of who made the request


More effective service providerMore effective service providerTool: Tool: www.naga.gov.ph/netservewww.naga.gov.ph/netserve

Act as a contract by which constituents

can mesure whether they are being given the same quality of service and pnpointpeople responsible

for ineffective service delivery as

basis for submitting grievances


More effective service providerMore effective service providerTool: Tool: ii--ServeServe

• i-Serve is a restricted web-enabled database of all voting population in the city, those earning below P18,000/month are marked as priority (MDG) beneficiaries

• The i-Serve program enables the city to track service availment by individual residents, each office allocates more for their priority beneficiaries, less or none at all to low priority

• Allocation based on point system, services have points, those in need are allowed higher points, well off have zero points.

• Posting full text of all ordinances passed by the local legislative body since city was created in 1945

• Posting of the full text of all executive orders issued by the city mayor

• Posting of activities and events that could impact on the lives of Naguenos

• Posting of draft legislation under consideration


More transparent policiesMore transparent policiesTool: Tool: www.naga.gov.phwww.naga.gov.ph

• 0917-TXTNAGA– Expands existing capabilities through the city’s own SMS

server– Allows constituents to send requests for services, report

incidents, check tax assessments and provide feedback through text messaging

– Sent through 0917-TXTNAGA or 0917-8986242• Ex. /LITES/<message> or /LOOK/<report

– Any one with a cellphone anywhere in the city, in fact, anywhere in the world, can send feedback to city hall

• Faster response time– Customer complaints are automatically acknowledged, and

manually routed to concerned departments. Responses are sent back within hours or days depending on the nature of the complaint.

ee--GOVERNANCE INITIATIVESGOVERNANCE INITIATIVESMore sensitive to public opinionsMore sensitive to public opinionsTool: TXTNAGA and Tool: TXTNAGA and www.naga.gov.phwww.naga.gov.ph

TxtNaga• Users can

– Send requests for services; report crime and other incidents; send complaints or provide feedback; check on tax assessments

• Civil society partners have access to the complaints/action database through the web and are able to monitor government responsiveness

How Does TxtNaga Work?

• User sends a message to 0917-TXTNAGA (0917-8986242)

• Message is received and acknowledged by a central station which routes it to the concerned office’s computer using an internally-developed application

• Office acts on the message and may send several responses from its computer through the city’s SMS server

• Message threads and statistics are kept for monitoring by city executives and civil society

• Taxpayers Information Network – Centralizes tracking of compliance with city

and national regulations. Those without deficiencies have only to get two signatories rather than 6 to renew its business permit.

– Information shared among the CEO for building and occupancy, CPDO for zoning, BFP for fire clearance, CHO for sanitation, ENRO for environmental regulations

• Web-based Business Information Query – enables taxpayers to check on-line if they are

compliant or not


More efficient and productiveMore efficient and productiveTool: Networking the officesTool: Networking the offices


G2G: Minimizing redundant processesG2G: Minimizing redundant processes

•• City Hall City Hall webmailwebmail– Making key management decisions transparent

to the rank and file thru group e-mail to city employees:• decisions reached during the weekly management

committee meeting indicating desired results and responsible offices/persons

• opportunities for hiring/promotion, qualification requirements, and final action taken

– Enabling employees to use the convenience of email to convey feedback to city officials


More efficient and productive More efficient and productive bureacracybureacracy

•• Deployment of productivity enhancing Deployment of productivity enhancing applicationsapplications– Personnel Information System (leave

monitoring), payroll system tied to ATM– Business permit and licenses tracking system– Business and realty tax module– Civil Registry Recording System– Urban Poor Lot Amortization System– City Hospital Patient Tracking System– Others


More efficient and productive More efficient and productive bureacracybureacracy

• Posting of the awards and recognitions of the city• Webcast of a local radio station

– The local radio station that tops listenership survey is carried live over the the city’s website

• Streaming video for major city events– Proceedings of the weekly legislative session (also

broadcasted over a local cable TV network)– Activities of the Penafrancia Festival– National sports events held in the city

• Message board– Discussion of local issues


Strengthen civic pride and love of place

Broadening access to ICT• Cyberschools.

– Connecting public elementary and secondary schools to the internet, including wireless internet in four upland villages

– Accessible to out-of school youths during weekends and summer

• Cyberbarangays. Internet stations at village halls – provide access to 67% of residents who do not have their

own computer connections or do not have easy access to cybercafes

• Leveraging Cybercafes– Mandating cybercafes to make the Naga City website as

their homepage

DELIVERY MECHANISMSDELIVERY MECHANISMS

More inclusive governance

• Deeper, more meaningful participation and engagement between the governors and the governed– By putting up the numbers for every one to see,

the city is “requiring from us more than greetings. They are asking us, for the sake of the city, to look at the numbers, study them, question them.”

– A visitor to the Naga website

OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

Efficiency

• Generates more savings, especially in regard to procurement of supplies and materials– A 15% average in estimated savings arise from

a more competitive and transparent process– Enables the city to “do more with less”

OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

Transparency

• More empowered customers and clients who can exact accountability in the delivery of key government services– This is being made possible by the Citizens

Charter and its digital counterpart, Netserve

OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

Transparency• More empowered customers and clients who can exact

accountability in the delivery of key government services, procurement and government policy-making. This is made possible, among others, by– the Citizens Charter and its web counterpart, Netserve– Postings of procurement and awards information– Postings of ordinances and executive orders– Access, through the web, by civil society partners (Naga City

People’s Council) to the TxtNaga complaints/action database

OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

Efficiency & Responsiveness• City government generates more savings,

especially with regard to procurement – A 15% average in estimated savings arise from a more

competitive and transparent process– Enables the city to “do more with less”

• Offices are “pushed” to continuously innovate and perform according to standards set – e.g. the General Services Department must act on

complaints about busted streetlights (sent through TxtNaga) within 24 hours

OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

Naga City: Naga City: An An MaogmangMaogmang LugarLugar

among the country’s fastest-growing economies with an annual growth rate of 6.5%-- a big jump over 1988

A lower unemployment rate of 5.2% compared to the national

A per capita gross product which is 15% higher than the national average; a family income that is comparable to other highly-urbanized areas, 26% higher than the average family in Bicol, and 42% higher than the national average

A lower poverty incidence of 19% compared to the region’s more than 50%

OUTCOMESOUTCOMES

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