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Grabe.. ganito daw ang nangyari sa eGovPH

Saw this. Some insider information re EGOVPH turning off some services on its platform. May internal na pang iipit daw na nagaganap. Hayyy Pilipinas, ang hirap mo talaga mahalin. 😭

Original post by DICT USec Almirol's (tormer) Chief of staff

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HjGjZzSUd/

"Alam ko ang totoong situation at nangyare why walang budget masyado ang eGov. I was there, I was Usec Dave's chief of staff. Seen and heard all, kasi nandun ako mismo. Ayoko na din sana mag post ng ganito kasi siguradong magagalit na naman sa akin si Usec Dave. Malaki ang respeto ko sa taong yan at bilib ako sa leadership skills nya. He was able to unite the whole eGov team (actually, buong DICT!) despite all the differences and reservations pagpasok namin. Kaibigan or kontra sa kanya, he was able to make them work as one team kaya naging successful ang eGov Team. I remember one of the speeches of Former Secretary Ivan Uy, he said that "Usec Dave's passion to serve is contagious." Kahit tanungin ninyo mga staff ng DICT, ang taas ng moral ng lahat sa dahil sa kakaibang leadership style nya, ginawa nyang parang tech start-up ang eGov kaya ang mabilis kumilos ang sarap pumasok sa DICT kasi punong puno ng inspirasyon at totoong mga projects na makakatulong sa tao. Honestly and personally, it gave me hope na maayos ang gobyerno dahil sa leadership niya, atleast sa government digitalization sana at sa loob ng DICT.

And I think I’d be doing a great injustice to the man who truly deserves our admiration if I don’t do this. I cannot stay silent knowing fully well ano talaga totoo and who were the prime suspects.

I came as well from the private sector (banking, fintech, and now the academe) for three decades combined and just like many of you here would always be a rabid critic of the government. Never knew the man before. I joined him and this admin on an invitation and not because of any political leanings. Pero ngayon lang din ako nakakita ng mataas na opisyal sa gobyerno na talagang nagmalasakit ng husto para isulong ang karangalan ng bayan. I have not seen any government person like him doing immense sacrifices and unmatched passion just to serve, even throwing away his personal resources something that the government should in fact provide immediately without being questioned.

When we started at DICT there was really nothing, but only remnants of the previous administration’s woeful handling of taxpayer’s money. There wasn’t even any eGov team at that time. And many of the previous admin’s procurement were mainly for connectivity, national broadband, various cloud services (that were never really used, put paid!) and cybersecurity. But not one was talking about the national digital transformation (which actually is the most important) in the real sense ng DICT mandate. Even congress thought that the only mandate of DICT was just to ensure there is enough telco signal and wifi up to the remotest town in the country. That was their limited view of national digital transformation. But then, even with this alone the country failed to progress.

So recognising a few low-hanging fruits and how backward we were against the likes of Singapore and Korea for example, he immediately buckled down to work on day one assembling initially a dozen of his own men, like-minded souls who wanted to help and uplift the country digitally and be able to compete globally. His popular inspiring words before starting a meeting, "Avengers! Assemble!"

Thus, the eGov team was born. Only very few would know about this, that after he divested and sold his shares he put aside like 10% of his proceeds para sa team nya as additional salary kasi nga walang may gustong mag join na IT experts at magagaling na programmers sa gobyerno kasi ang baba ng sweldo! This was our biggest challenge from the outset. I asked him personally why he needed to do that, but he answered "okay lang yan Mon, consider my expenses as my tithes, sobrang blessed ako ni Lord sa private, time to give back, time to help our country."

Love ko talaga itong si Usec Dave pero p*t*ng *nang (pardon my French) sobrang kabaitan nyan, ayaw nyang lumaban! Dyan ako buwisit na buwisit sa kanya. Kaya pagpasok palang nila Sec Henry and his group inalipusta na nila ng todo yung tao. Saksakan sila ng yabang. I witnessed how they personally persecuted Dave even on budget presentations. Binastos, paulet ulet na pinahiya sa harap ng buong DICT staff pati during execom and sinasadyang pahirapan sya para mag resign nalang. Isa na dyan ang pang-iipit ng kayang budget. Akalain nyo bang ang eGov lang ang ZERO ang Tier 2 budget? While the other divisions na apparently walang silbi were allocated billions in budget....I have a copy of the whole 2025 budget ng buong DICT, showing how the eGov team got zero allocation for its Tier 2 budget. It was obvious how this was meant to intimidate Usec Dave with a clear intention to push him to resign kasi nga hindi nila matanggal tanggal because kilala sya personally ni presidente at first lady.

I am saying this because I am fully aware of his and former Sec. Ivan Uy’s presentation to PBBM for this matter. Isa ako sa gumawa sa presentation deck nya, para humiling ng budget sa cloud services at iba pang need ng eGov kasi nga super liit ang budget and wala talaga sa line items sa budget ang mga new systems na ginawa nila Usec. And in fairness, sobrang supportive si PBBM sa eGov team, alam kong nag allocate ng budget para mahiwalay ang cloud services ng eGov app at digital national ID kasi nakahalo ito sa sangkatutak na iba bang eGov platforms together with hundreds of government agencies cloud subscription. We knew that when the time comes, that when a sudden surge of usage should happen, all the other systems including the eGOV app would be affected.

Pero hindi na release ang budget na yan at hindi manlang dinagdagan ng budget despite the massive adoption we were observing for the eGov platform. And worst inipit ng inipit kaya walang na release na budget para sa cloud services.

Hinde ko na iisa isahin pa ang mga iba’t ibang digital systems na inilatag thru him. He personally managed his eGov tech team, masyadong workaholic, sumasama yan sa puyatan kahit pa holidays at weekends. They worked tirelessly and developed dozens of platforms for only 2 years! Kaya napakadaming eGov systems ngayon na gamit na gamit ng milyong milyong tao. Walang contractor, walang gastos ang gobyerno sa “system design and development”. Ang request lang ni Usec Dave that time ay additional storage at cloud resources.

Truth is, all of these massive achievements have managed to fly on its own, millions of people started using them because it provided real support to the Ease of Doing Business Law for the general public. These platforms actually drew quite an attention from international ICT institutions starting in 2024. The Philippines even received E-Governance Awards from the United Nations (12 countries lang nakareceive nyan out of 170+ countries) and the eGov app even had the distinction of bagging the Digital Transformation of the Year Award in Singapore.

We also knew people would eventually adopt to using the eGovApp. At gaya nga ng sabi ni Sen. Bam, ito ay isang kabaliwan na magsasara ang eGov app kasi walang pambayad ng cloud services eh obviously may budget naman ang DBM. But you know what happened. May humarang. Alam nyo na now.

Problem is, malayo na narating ng mga haka-haka and as purported by a post from Sen. Bam Aquino referring to the reported 12 platforms that were shut down by DICT, dahil sabi nga ni Usec Dave ay walang pambayad sa cloud services. And the real reason?

Alisin nyo ang eGov App, Digital National ID, eLGU, eTravel, eNGA, eGovAI, eGovChain, eVerify at iba pang eGov platforms sa DICT ngayon, ano sa tingin nyo ang matitirang accomplishment report sa Malacanang patungkol sa DICT? Ano irereport nila, mga papogi, tiktok at puro MOA signing sabay picture taking. During my stint as Usec Dave's COS, all projects and accomplishments of the eGov team were submitted to the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) almost every month. All these reports would come thru me for vetting with final approval from Usec Dave kaya kabisado ko lahat projects at budgets. And because we’d always submit the longest one, we knew without our contributions there would be nothing substantial worth reading. Hope you get the drift.

Again, I really would have decided to keep mum. But I even need to raise this question and ask Usec Dave. Hangang kelan ka magtitiis dyan? I know you’d feel embarrassed because of this post, but this will be my last, even if you exclude me as your friend. I don't care, because people and even Malacanang have to know the truth and nothing but the truth.

Lastly, to our dear Senator Bam, with your indulgence, maybe you should know this. I can visit you in your office if you want more details. I just feel the need to post this because I cannot allow a public ridicule for something that was built with true sincerity, sacrifices and passion by a man in government who has more to gain leaving than staying in his post.

DaDavid Almirol Bam Aquino"