Welcome Remarks

Welcome Remarks

Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran

2^nd GEPCSET Roadshow

Hotel Intercontinental, Makati

11-17-10

Good morning Honorable guests, colleagues from the government, ladies and gentlemen.

We are delighted to have you here to participate and share in the GEPCSET 2^nd roadshow. Our theme “Moving Forward with Electronic Payment and Collection for good governance” marks another evolution of electronic payment and collection system (EPCS) in the national government. During this event, we hope to provide you with more insights on how we intend to facilitate electronic payment and collection system in the government. We would like to promote awareness and how government entities could achieve compliance to RA 8792 or the E-Commerce Act of the Philippines. We all know that at the heart of the E-Commerce is the e-payment and collection system. We want to ensure that such would be properly implemented across all agencies.

The GEPCSET continues to take steps towards a more receptive, efficient and effective e-payment and collection system in the government. We continue to encourage each and everyone to continue to mount technological solutions on payment and collection for the national government.   The tasks ahead of us are huge and unbounded. There are many challenges that we have to face up to. But all these can be surmountable if we continue to work hand in hand. We are persistently creating an environment conducive to EPCS. We have created operation guidelines for the EPCS, updated the joint department administrative order which was signed by the DOF and DTI secretaries, and we constantly acquired support from the lower house and the senate.

Today, as a demonstration of unwavering drive to pursue EPCS in the government, we are honored to have with us the 2^nd district representative from Taguig and Chairman of the committee on Information and Communication Technology of the 15^th Congress, Congressman Sigfrido Rodriguez Tinga. Under his stewardship as then Mayor of Taguig, the City and its people have undergone significant transformation and have garnered significant achievements in various fields it is for this reason that Congressman Tinga was named among the People of the Year for the 2007 by People Magazine. He has boosted the revenue collection of the city government hitting the P2 billion revenue mark in 2007 while other LGU was collecting less than P500 million annually. In 2008, again under his turf, Taguig was cited by World Bank’s International Finance Corporation as the country’s most business friendly city for streamlined government procedures. These days, he continues to steer Taguig to growth and development making it one of the fastest growing cities in the country.

Before I handover to Congressman Tinga, I would like to welcome everyone. It is a great please to see you in this event.