CORON, Palawan–The government should use technology to combat corruption, Commission on Information Technology and Communications (CICT) Secretary Ivan John Uy underscored in the recent Hewlett Packard-Intel Synergy 2010 conference held in Coron, Palawan.

For one thing, “Shifting all payments to government to an e-payment system will eradicate corruption,” he said. “If one wants to apply for a passport, pay for taxes, business permits, licenses or other fees, there will be no physical interaction between him and a government personnel.”

CICT plans to put up a web portal where the public can pay using a single form, such as an e-Bayad payment gateway. This should remove the red tape for investors who want to set up businesses in the country. Normally, they still have to go from one agency to another.

But Uy acknowledged that “bringing change to this country will be an uphill climb.”

“There are many challenges to ICT governance that needs to be addressed and many sacrifices to be made,” he said.

Right now, the CICT is undertaking the e-Local Government Unit project, the secretary pointed out. Under this initiative, any LGU who wants to computerize will be supplied real estate taxes modules, business permits and website templates.

Uy said that they are conceptualizing on this system wherein all the applications and information will no longer reside in the hard disks of each LGUs computers but can be accessed anywhere, anytime for as long as users can access the internet.