The government stands to save between P30 billion and P40 billion every year by eliminating redundant technology systems across various agencies, according to the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT). Speaking at the eGov PH Hackathon in Taguig City, DICT Undersecretary David Almirol said the department plans to redirect at least P100 million of these operational savings directly to local technology startups next year.
The cost reductions arise from enforcing the E-Governance Act alongside a “Once Only” policy, which stops individual government departments from building overlapping digital platforms. Initial budget reviews revealed widespread redundancies among government requests for 2025, which originally totaled around P200 billion. Instead of letting individual agencies spend hundreds of millions on separate HR, payroll, and asset management software, DICT is streamlining these tools into a single central eGov application that already connects roughly 1,300 systems.
Rather than letting the saved funds lapse or hiring expensive foreign contractors, DICT intends to hire Filipino startups to serve as software developers, system integrators, and research partners. Almirol emphasized that local developers have already created capable solutions and are fully equipped to help integrate remaining agencies into the national platform. The announcement coincides with DICT evaluating 137 team entries for a national tech competition, where finalists across sectors like FinTech, HealthTech, and AgriTech are competing for immediate prize funding and future government partnerships.
