By Jose Cielito Reganit, August 7, 2025; Philippine News Agency

https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1256104

MANILA – President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Thursday said his administration’s push to have the eGovPH Super App, which will facilitate the delivery of faster, simpler, and more convenient public services to Filipinos, is borne out of necessity to keep the Philippines abreast with the times.

“Because that’s the only way to do it. You cannot operate in 2025 na kinakamay-kamay mo ang forms, pupunta-punta ka sa opisina (if you just manually accomplish the forms and go to the offices),” Marcos said in his podcast.

Marcos acknowledged that it takes three days to get regular documents from government offices due to long queues.

“Kasi akala mo tapos na ‘yung dokumento mo, sasabihin, ‘Ay, hindi, may kulang pa ito. Pumunta ka doon.’ Tapos lalapit na ‘yung fixer sa iyo (Because you thought that your document is already finished, then they say to you ‘No, this still needs something, go there.’ Then a fixer will approach you,” he said.

“The whole experience, the whole bad experience. So, that cannot –that doesn’t work anymore.”

Marcos said as a country, as an economy, the Philippines needs to be competitive.

“Look at China, how digitalized China is. We have to be at that level. Look at Singapore, look at Korea. Ito ‘yung mga karatig-bansa natin eh (These are our neighboring countries). These are the people we do business with. So, to be able to do business with them properly, we need to digitalize,” he said.

Marcos said he made sure the eGovPH Super App is simple so that ordinary Filipinos would be able to use it.

“I made sure while it –noong sinusulat pa ‘yung code diyan, ang test ko lagi, ang sinasabi ko, kailangan isimple ninyo, isimple ninyo. Kailangan napakadali (when the code is still being written, I always say, you need to make it simple. It must be very easy to use),” he said.

“So, tumingin kami (we looked), we did a little study. There are 89 million Filipino Facebook users. So, sabi ko dapat ‘yung app natin, ‘yung eGov app natin, kung kaya mo mag-Facebook, kaya mo mag-eGov app (I said our eGov app, if you know how to use Facebook, you also know how to use the eGov app,” the President said.

What is needed now, he said, is to inform the people of the app.

As for the farmers, seniors or those who have no access to the internet or smartphones, Marcos said the government will reach out to them and teach them.

“Matututo sila because tuturuan sila (They will learn because we will teach them). We will have to educate our people,” Marcos said.

“But again, 89 million, that’s a good majority already of Filipinos who can… Halimbawa, may magsasaka, hindi talaga –walang pagka-techie, ‘yung anak niya kaya niyang turuan –kaya siyang turuan (for example, a farmer who has no knowledge of technology, his children can teach him). But they have to know that it is available,” he said.

Meanwhile, the President said digitalization is not only for business, but also for education.

“It’s absolutely imperative now that children know how to use a computer, they know how to use the internet, and they know how to do work on the internet. Hindi na puwedeng hindi (Not knowing how to is unacceptable). It’s not an option anymore,” he said.