Cebu was first place in the Business Environment G2B (Government to Business) while Balanga topped the Business Environment G2C (Government to Customer), besting 58 local government units all over the country which submitted their entries.

The competition is a flagship project of the  National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), the Department of Interior and Local Government, and CyberCity TeleServices, Incorporated.

NICP chair Jocelle Batapa-Sigue announced the publication of a best practices book to contain the details of the winning ICT projects for distribution to all LGUs next year.

DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero congratulated the winners for serving as a benchmark for other LGUs in integrating ICT to make local governments more effective, transparent and responsive to their constituencies.

George Sorio, president of Cybercity, said the trophy for the winners was inspired by the famous lighthouse in Ilocos to symbolize how best examples stand as a point of light that will guide everyone in our journey.

The eGov Awards is conducted in honor of the late Secretary Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Robredo, to recognize local government units utilizing information and communications technology (ICT) in the delivery of services.  The G2C category recognizes the measurable effect of an lgu’s practice in applying ICT solutions in the education and engagement of the public in the use of electronic facilities/channels towards providing improved, timely and relevant public services while the G2B category awards the significant effect of an lgu’s laudable practices in integrating ICT solutions and the commitment of its administration to transparency, accountability and in the responding to the needs of the business enterprises, thereby creating business opportunities.

From various entries in the preliminaries, eighteen finalists, or nine each per category or three per island cluster where identified in Bacolod City for Visayas, Mindanao in Davao City, Clark, Pampanga for Luzon. The 18 finalists competed again for the finals at  Clark, Pampanga on November 8-9,  2012.

Placing second prize for the G2B category is Balanga City, Bataan while the third prize is Carmona, Cavite. Finishing  second for the G2C category is Naga City  while the third place is Province of Iloilo.

Finalists in the G2C include the provinces of Negros Occidental, Agusan Del Sur, and Laguna, and cities of General Santos City, Ormoc, and Davao.

Finalists in the G2B include cities of  Ormoc, Cagayan De Oro, Koronadal, Butuan, San Fernando in La Union, and the Province of Iloilo.

The awarding was done at Enchanted Kingdom, Sta. Rosa City, Laguna as the culminating activity in the 5th Annual National ICT Confederation of the Philippines Summit which was attended by over forty ICT  Councils nation-wide.

Atty. Jocelle Batapa-Sigue