Manila, Philippines — UBX, the fintech venture studio of the Aboitiz Group, will be leading the multi-sectoral initiative, ‘Digital Transformation ng Pilipinas’ (#DigiPinas), that aims to drive the accelerated digital transformation in the Philippine government to help bring essential and critical services closer to Filipinos.
On 27 October, UBX officially introduced the #DigiPinas initiative, a multi-stakeholder advocacy group that will work closely with all relevant stakeholders towards the digital transformation of the country.
A response to the call of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, #DigiPinas is composed of platforms and solutions providers, local chief executives, policymakers, national government agency representatives, members of the academe, and people organizations.
Together, #DigiPinas members will champion digital transformation in government, supported by enabling laws, policies, and regulations, including Republic Act (RA) 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act; RA 8792 or the Electronic Commerce Act; Executive Order (EO) 170 or the Adoption of Digital Payments for Disbursements and Collections; and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) National Strategy for Financial Inclusion and Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap.
“One of our core values and advocacies in UBX is to include everyone and even though we have come a long way towards a more inclusive Philippines, there is still much more to be done. #DigiPinas is our response to the call for an accelerated digital transformation in government to help bring essential and critical services closer to Filipinos,” said UBX President John Januszczak.
The Philippines is facing obstacles in achieving digital transformation such as low digital adoption, lack of awareness, gaps in access, digital skills gap, and complex regulations. #DigiPinas intends to help the government in the development of technologies that transform everyday experiences, particularly government services and transactions.
#DigiPinas will be identifying national government agencies and local government units that it can support through digital transformation, equipping each government partner with digital tools and solutions to bring their services closer to their constituents.
#DigiPinas Spokesperson Mikan Leachon added, “Digitalizing government services will help reduce inequalities and inequities, as the Internet, as they say, is the greatest equalizer. But we are still far from the new digital world that we seek. #DigiPinas takes a multi-stakeholder approach to address barriers and challenges and help hasten development not only in major cities and provinces, but in rural towns and far-flung areas.”
