BY DOMINIQUE GABRIEL BAÑAGA
BACOLOD City – The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis is expected to cost Negros Occidental’s economy P1.57 billion in losses this year as firms shed profits while thousands of workers lose their jobs and income.
About 976,000 workers in the informal economy were “highly affected during the enhanced community quarantine, according to former congressman Alfredo Benitez, speaking before officials of the provincial government attending the “Meeting on Negros Occidental’s Road Recovery Plan” at the Capitol Social Hall on Monday.
Benitez, provincial consultant for economic affairs, said 83,000 overseas Filipino workers from the province may also be affected, “translating to potential loss in cash remittances amounting to P7 billion.”
During the meeting, Benitez cited the digital revolution program “as a road to recovery.”
“Through the program the province will create smart cities, smart systems, smart infrastructure,” he said.
In line with the digital revolution, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson called on the department heads of the provincial government to “synchronize moves to show that the province is serious in migrating into technology-based delivery of basic services.”
Benitez said the meeting is to align the departments with the vision to create a digital revolution.
“It starts with the basic infrastructure of connectivity. The program is to bring all local government units, all hospitals, schools into a network where they have interconnectivity. Once the infrastructure of connectivity has been established you will have different programs of E-government, E-Learning, telemedicine. We will use technology to deliver basic services,” Benitez said.
He added the province is signing a tripartite Memorandum of Agreement with private companies and with the Department of Information and Communications Technology, to ensure this connectivity infrastructure.
“We’re looking at this year for the realization of the project,” Benitez added./PN
