The City Budget Office and the Local Finance Committee (LFC) embarked on various digitalization projects with the intent of making work easier with technology-aided and artificial intelligence as co-solutions in line with the current thrust of the national government on e-governance focused on digitalization.
City Budget officer Leticia O. Clemente said that these offices took the lead in conceptualizing, designing systems for development and deployment to different offices, linking them together, with the purpose of streamlining their processes, aiming to do all transactions online for better delivery of public services.
As fiscal officers, she pointed out that they find ways to cut on cost, save money and time, minimize errors and ultimately, optimize the city’s limited resources while maintaining quality services that the public deserve.
One of the significant accomplishments of the City Budget Office and the Local Finance Committee is the electronic budget and procurement monitoring and inventory system that gained national recognition and awarded first place at the Digital Governance Awards of the Department of Information and Communication Technology and the Department of the Interior and Local government (DILG) not only once but twice. The system allows all departments to prepare, submit and monitor their plans and budget, including procurement activities, online.
Clemente disclosed that the system is being expanded to add a new feature for the preparation of the annual investment plan (AIP) .
Further, the city government deployed the barangay economic database system for the inventory of economic activities and establishments in the barangays which will be linked with the city for the updating of its economic database and proper monitoring and recommendation of appropriate policies on investments and capacity development for the barangays, especially for the micro-small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
She expressed hope to partner with the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) to make the use of the system mandatory and allow the barangays to continually update their data.
According to her, the barangay electronic budgeting system is currently being developed and will be deployed in time for their budget preparation for 2024.
Moreover, the building permit application services system is another brainchild of the LFC where it is a system different from other local governments. Under the said system, offices involved from the City Buildings and Architecture office (CBAO), City Planning and Development Office, Baguio Fire Station and the City Environment and Parks Management Office (CEPMO) can perform their duties anywhere and anytime through the system.
The city government is on the final stages of the working permit application services system which is ready for deployment by the second quarter of this year. The system links the City Mayor’s Office Public Employment Service Office (PESO) unit, City Health Services Office, Baguio City Police Office in the processing of working permits.
For the renewal of business permits, Clemente stated that the city government hopes to see lesser queueing and early issuance of working permits for workers in the city.
She asserted that the work in government is never ending, what is important is that it is started with focus to win it.
