Promoting efficiency in governance is almost a universal goal of any local chief executive. An important key to the achievement of this goal is the effective communication of their messages to their local and national constituents.
Hence, the lack of up-to-date communication technologies has been one of the nagging problems in the town of Malapatan, Saranggani. The only means of communication were two-way radios and cellular telephones. As a result, LGU officials had to travel to the provincial capital to send and receive facsimile messages vital to the municipal operations of Malapatan.
But this problem is finally over with the establishment of the Malapatan Community e-Center (CeC) through the assistance of government and non-government supporters including the Growth with Equity in Mindanao (GEM) Project and the Last Mile Initiative (LMI) Program of the USAID-funded Economic Modernization through Efficient Reforms and Governance Enhancement (EMERGE) Project.
The Malapatan e-Center is equipped with five computers and wireless broadband connectivity, freeing the local government and the entire Malapatan community from its relative isolation due to lack of good communications facilities.
Inaugurated during the 4th Mindanao Information and Communications Technology Congress (MICT) in General Santos City, the Malapatan CeC is considered one of the key programs of the government and a powerful tool in “e-enabling” Mindanao for technological opportunities. A total of three CeCs supported by the LMI Project of USAID were launched during the event.
Malapatan Mayor Alfonso Singcoy stressed that the LGU will benefit immensely from this e-Center because it will result in more efficient government service, real time communication with other LGUs and the national government, new knowledge in agriculture and fishing, ecotourism, and more business opportunities.
“Through this technology, we can make and receive phone calls directly to or from the Governor’s office. Our LGU will immediately know if the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has already released the municipal funds or if there are new proclamations or guidelines on the use of government budget. Our teachers and government employees can now view their Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) funds and loan payments,” the Mayor said.
He added that students and teachers need not travel anymore to the neighboring town to use the computer for Internet research.
The free training that these two former out-of-school-youth-turned-community-mentors provide does not go unrewarded. The more they train, the more future customers they have, and indeed, the Center is flourishing due in part to the increasing number of high school, elementary and college students, teachers, cooperative members and townsfolk who have started using the facilities.
The community e-Center in Sogod, Cebu, is one of the beneficiaries of the Last Mile Initiative Program of the USAID-funded EMERGE project. Working with World Corps, a local nonprofit organization that led the effort to establish what is fast becoming the community’s center of learning; the LMIP program provided computers and upgraded existing units of the Center. LMIP also facilitated the Center’s new broadband connection that makes e-learning more enjoyable and efficient, and which has now enabled the Center to explore new revenue-generating applications like internet telephony.