City council of Naga in Cebu goes

paperless
By John Rey Saavedra December 17, 2018, 7:18 pm

CEBU CITY – The City of Naga has now become the only local government unit in the province of Cebu to
implement a paperless system in its operations, with its Sangguniang Panlungsod (SP) as the pilot project.

This as Mayor Kristine Vanessa Chiong commended the council members for embracing a paperless
engagement in its regular sessions.

“The project is a brainchild of Naga City Vice Mayor Othello M. Chiong. All members of the 3rd Sangguniang
Panlungsod of Naga City have adopted the system,” SP Secretary Garry Cabotaje said.

In this new system, Vice Mayor Chiong, city councilors and personnel of the SP can now interact with each
other using digital technology.

In effect, Cabotaje said the operations of the council have now shifted from “manual to digital operations.”

“Thanks to the e-archive system with paperless application as SP members now find it the most convenient
way of browsing over the session agenda at their fingertips,” Cabotaje said in his Facebook post.

The vice mayor and the city councilors are now using their new flip-and-fold touchscreen laptops in viewing
the minutes and calendar of business.

“They just browse and click… a huge shift from the old and traditional paper-based council session,” Cabotaje
said.

This paperless system, he said, enables the city councilors to electronically access the archived documents such
as ordinances, resolutions, committee reports, minutes and session history.

They can also access electronic references like the circulars, opinions, internal rules, executive issuances,
ordinances, statutes, and the 1987 Constitution at their fingertips, he added.

The gadget is also equipped with a chatroom, crawler and notebook features, he said.

The system was developed by a private technology firm, Devise Software Designs and Solutions.

According to the firm in its comments to Cabotaje’s post, the SP of Naga City is now using the latest version
of the e-Archive System paperless application, the most advanced and comprehensive system. (PNA)