MAGUINDANAO—Bangsamoro Information and Communications Technology Office (BICTO), together with various stakeholders, is conducting the second consultation on the formulation of Bangsamoro E-Government Master Plan (BEGMP) at Darul Aman Suite, Brgy. Capiton, Datu Odin Sinsuat in this province.
The event will run from Nov. 17-18 to provide updates and development on the drafting of BEGMP’s preliminary framework following its first consultation held last Sept. 28-29 this year. [Related story: BICTO consults stakeholders in the drafting of Bangsamoro E-Government Master Plan]
“In the first consultation, we managed to come up and draft a policy recommendation related to ICT or the Information and Communication Technology in BARMM, especially the issues and challenges,” said BICTO Executive Director II Jonathan Mantikayan.
BICTO will also engage with Institute of Bangsamoro Studies (IBS) and The Asia Foundation in furtherance of its mission which is to provide efficient, reliable, integrated, and secured ICT infrastructure, systems, and solutions in BARMM.
Mantikayan also stressed the importance of consulting with civil society organizations (CSOs) to obtain their recommendations on current issues and challenges on connectivity.
“We already submitted to different ministries and agencies a concept paper for the workshop regarding the formulation of Information System Strategic Plan and the inventory or the current ICT infrastructure in BARMM,” Mantikayan shared.
Meanwhile, Hashim Manticayan, president of the League of Bangsamoro Organization (LBO) said in an interview that they are currently handling more than 300 different CSOs of different sectors such as youth, women, professional, and religious leaders, among others.
“We see that we can do a lot of help in terms of advocacy such as educating our people by channeling through CSOs. We are the voice of the people. We are thankful that we are part of the consultation,” President Manticayan said.
“We are expecting that we are going to have a clear roadmap of the master plan by which even ordinary citizens can have access information related to our e-governance,” he added.
After the 2-day consultation with the CSOs, the BICTO hopes to substantially produce the said BARMM E-Government Roadmap in order for it to halfway start on its realization until 2025. (Bangsamoro Information Office)
