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Central Government, Government CXO, Policy

Why the Philippines needs a GCIO

By Robin Hicks | 4 May 2010

Without a Government Chief Information Officer and an IT department with clout, the Philippines will be left behind the rest of Asia in terms of the efficiency and accountability of its government. So says the head of the Chief Information Officers Forum, a foundation set up to promote ICT-led governance in the archipelago.

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At the IBM-organised Government CIO Forum in Manila recently, CIOF President Esperanza Espino (pictured), who is also CIO of the Bases Conversion Development Authority (BCDA), told FutureGov that while the Philippines is home to Asia’s national computer centre (establish in 1968, three years before Singapore’s National Computer Board), her country has long since been overtaken by its peers.

“Typhoon Ondoy showed how disjointed our government is. Resource sharing is difficult,” she said. “ICT is viewed as a tool - as PowerPoint is a tool. But not as a strategic tool with which to automate operations of government agencies, or to develop applications that replicable across government.”

A well-resourced IT department “with teeth” is needed to lead change, she said. “The CICT (Commission on Information & Communications Technology) was the result of a passing bill. A DICT would have been a more mature version, and a par with other departments in terms of clout.”

A GCIO is needed to coordinate government IT projects and oversee agency CIOs in how they manage their information flows, she added. “The role would fulfil the need to look at government as a whole. Otherwise systems are created in silos, without strategic direction.”

Ray Roxas-Chua, Chairman of the Commission on Information & Communications Technology (CICT) would be man to run the department, Espino suggested.

The CIO Forum is working with the CICT on updating the Government Information Systems Plan (GISP), an evaluation process that determines which government systems should be development. They are also collaborating to upgrade an ICT Roadmap for the next administration.

The Roadmap includes draft legislation for the creation of a CIO Council to support the development of government CIOs. Another idea is to open a CIO university.

“Of course, whether the Roadmap hold will be decided by the elections,” said Espino. “We have identified some issues that are preventing us from moving ahead. But we also know what we need: a clear framework and a government CIO. The elections offer hope that we can change the status quo and move on.”