PASAY CITY -- Senator Christopher “Bong” Go hailed the enactment of a measure which seeks to promote the development of the country’s digital workforce by providing Filipinos with better digital skills.

Republic Act 11927 or the “Philippine Digital Workforce Competitiveness Act”, which was principally authored by Senator Joel Villanueva and co-authored by Go, seeks to guarantee that the Filipino workforce benefits from the job prospects created by digital technologies.

“Nais po nating mabigyan ng kaukulang kakayahan at kasanayan ang ating mga kababayan upang maging parte sila ng digital workforce ng bansa,” said Go.

“Dahil dito, mas maraming mga oportunidad at trabaho ang magbubukas para sa kanila at mas madaling makakabangon ang ating ekonomiya mula sa epekto ng pandemya,” he added.

Under the law, the Inter-Agency Council for Development and Competitiveness of Philippine Digital Workforce shall be created to take charge of planning, coordination and implementation of policies promoting, developing, and enhancing the competitiveness of the Philippines’ digital workforce.

The council shall be headed by the National Economic and Development Authority. Meanwhile, its members shall be composed of the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Information and Communications Technology, Department of Science and Technology, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, and Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Local government units will also be strengthened as they will be able to implement local policies that support and promote the growth and development of digital technology, digital careers, and innovations in their respective areas.

In the creation and execution of training, skill development, and certification programs, the new law will enable public-private partnerships with specialists, private firms, information technology-business process outsourcing industry associations, and other stakeholders.

Go has early on emphasized the need for the country to transition to the digital age by utilizing new technologies and incorporating them into public governance.

Citing lessons from the pandemic, the senator refiled Senate Bill No. 194 or the E-Governance Act of 2022 as one of his top 20 priority measures in the 19th Congress to make the government more responsive to the changing times. He noted that at the height of the pandemic, the public was burdened by long lines and inconvenient appointments with government offices, financial institutions, and other public offices.

The proposed measure mandates the government to establish an integrated, interconnected, and interoperable information and resource-sharing and communications network spanning the entirety of the national and local government, an internal records management information system, an information database, and digital portals for the delivery of public services.

The measure likewise pushes for the digitization of paper-based and other traditional modes of workflows for a more efficient and transparent public service.

Go then reiterated that Filipinos must feel that the government is truly accessible to them, bringing important government services closer to the populace, thereby improving national resilience and adaptability.

“Dahil sa pandemya, nakita natin kung gaano kahalaga na mabilis at maaasahan ang serbisyo ng gobyerno para sa mga Pilipino,” said the senator.

“Kaya naman dapat lamang tayong magpasa ng mga panukala na magpapatatag at magpapabilis sa pagbibigay ng serbisyo ng gobyerno sa mga Pilipino gamit ang teknolohiya upang masiguro na kaya nating lampasan anumang krisis ang ating kakaharapin,” he stressed. (OSBG)