DAVAO CITY – The City Council here will soon go paperless as preparations for digitalized copies of their ordinances and agenda is on ground.
Councilor Bonz Andrei Militar, the proponent of the Less Paper System Ordinance, explained to reporters that the upcoming digitalization will hasten the preparation of documents relative to the crafting and discussion inside th august hall, which will reduce the use of papers.
The digitalization, Militar explained, will be fully implemented in 2024 as the city needs to procure hardwares and equipment relative to the purpose.
City Councilor Tek Ocampo, chairperson of the Committee on Environment said “Going paperless is not just cost-efficient but it is environment-friendly, as we will no longer be using ink or carbon and we can save trees as we won’t use paper in our minutes and other communications in relation to our legislative work unless it is really necessary.”
Ocampo said the use of paper has a huge environmental impact, “Since it involves tree-cutting and creates gashouse emission and above all contributed to denudation of the forest.”
“Ink also contains toxic materials, so going paperless is very healthy to the environment.” Ocampo added.
Militar also explained that his move to go paperless is in line with the local government’s thrust towards digitalization and automation of transactions to deliver services faster and more convenient for the public.
“Before, the City Council relied on traditional style which is more on paper. Every session, the SP produced almost 70 reams of paper. This will be lessened into five reams,” said Militar in a report published by the Philippine News Agency.
To fully implement the system, the SP’s Legislative Information Support System (LISS) will be given additional features such as cloud storage, a next-generation firewall, and appropriate hardware and software systems.
Militar also assured the public that measures would be taken to prevent data breaches.
The public can access the LISS cloud storage to review session reports.