Davao City LGU now uses e-signature system

EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY – Mayor Inday Sara Duterte on Monday signed some documents using her electronic signature or e-signature. With this, Davao City became the first local government in the country to introduce the use of e-signature. The move is geared towards a paperless system for eco-friendly governance.

Mayor Inday said that the initiative came from the City Archive Division. It was aimed at reducing the volume of paper used in transactions in government offices.

“The e-signature is very environment-friendly and it gives more security since we are the only one who can affix our signatures and our passwords as well,” the Mayor said.

She said that since the city has established the e-signature system, documents can now move from one office to another through the use of email, even if the transaction involves national offices.

“We can still use the e-signature system even if the transaction is between our office and the national offices because it has an email option,” Mayor Inday added.

The documents containing e-signatures can also be used in court, as certified true copies, when the judiciary demands its submission.

Domino effect

Mayor Inday hopes that through this initiative of Davao, other cities and municipalities will replicate the system to do their part for the environment.

“I am very happy for the initiative of our archive division to push for technology and innovation in our city government processes and hopefully, when we are done and it is ready to roll out to be used by the city government, it will be a source of benchmarking for other LGUs as well,” she said.

The e-signature was one of the points stressed by Mayor Inday during her 2017 State of the City Address.

This isn’t the first time Davao has taken on trailblazing practices in local governance. Last July, a committee was created to manage the construction of waste-to-energy facilities for the city.