MOBILE NUMBERS FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

MOBILE NUMBERS FOR GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

My dear countrymen, have you ever wondered why we are so proud to be the “texting capital of the world, and yet we could not even text our own government? Why is it that we could text our relatives, our friends and our neighbors, and yet we could not text most of our government agencies? I say that because I send messages to our government agencies everyday via email and Facebook Messenger, and that is why I know for a fact that very few government agencies have mobile numbers, and even if they do, they do not have Viber or Telegram.

Never mind WhatsApp, because of some concerns about its data security, but why are these National Government Agencies (NGAs) and Local Government Units (LGUs) not using Viber and Telegram? Since these two messaging apps are available for free, we can be sure that the reason is not money. And so, if it is not money, what could be the reason? I could only think of two reasons. It’s either they are lazy, or they do not want the public to contact them.

By my own estimate, based on my own experience, less than 20% of NGAs and LGUs publish their mobile numbers, meaning that they only publish their landlines. That by itself is really a problem, because not too many people have landlines nowadays anymore. According to Microsoft Copilot, “it is generally more expensive to call a landline number from a mobile phone in the Philippines compared to calling another mobile phone. For example, calling a landline number typically costs around 7.50 pesos per minute with most mobile service providers like Globe and Smart. In contrast, calling another mobile phone is usually cheaper, often around 6.00 pesos per minute or less, depending on the plan”. But my point is, why would anyone spend 7.50 pesos per minute to call another mobile phone if they could just send a text for only one peso? Better than that, why not send a message for free via Viber or Telegram?

For so long a time now, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. has been calling on the NGAs and LGUs to move towards digitalization. Unfortunately, their compliance has been rather slow, as reported by DICT Secretary Ivan Uy. If they are really having a hard time obeying the President’s orders, perhaps they could start by buying a simple mobile phone, subscribe to Viber and Telegram, and then post that number in their websites and Facebook pages? Since Instagram and Twitter (X) are also free, why not post that number there too?

It is not really rocket-science, but if the heads of these NGAs and LGUs do not know how to do it, I can teach them how to use Google’s “Messages for the Web” app so that they do not have to send and receive text from a small mobile phone, and do it instead from a computer, meaning a larger tablet, laptop or desktop. It’s also not a big deal, but I could also teach them how to download and install Viber and Telegram into both their mobile phones and their computers. Perhaps they would be happy to know that they could use these apps interchangeably and simultaneously in their mobile phones and their computers, just like Facebook Messenger. Your friend, IKE SENERES/12-10-24/visit my blog senseneres.blogspot.com


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES?

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES? When we talk about the crime rate in the Philippines, we often assume that the figures we see are accurate reflections of reality. But have we ever paused to ask—how exactly is the crime rate computed? Where does this data come from, and how reliable is it? The computation of the crime rate in the Philippines is officially handled by the Philippine National Police (PNP). The formula itself is straightforward: Crime Rate = (Total Reported Crimes / Total Population) x 100,000 This simple equation gives us the number of crimes per 100,000 people, allowing for fair comparison across regions and time periods. However, the reality behind these numbers is more complex than it appears. Data from the Ground The foundation of our national crime rate is empirical data collected at the grassroots level—from individual police stations scattered across the country. Every reported crime is logged in local police blotters, forming the buil...
Read more

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS Dear Mr. President: May I ask who is going to be the arbiter or referee whenever there are overlaps in functions between two or more government agencies? I imagine that there would be no problem if these agencies would just cooperate and collaborate with each other, but what if they are unable to settle their differences and they would just end up throwing blame at each other or finger pointing at each other? Allow me to cite some examples. Who is supposed to take the lead in waste to energy projects? Is it supposed to be the DENR that is supposed to handle waste? Or is it supposed to be the DOE that is supposed to handle energy generation? Or is it supposed to be the DILG since it is the one that could direct or influence the waste to energy projects of LGUs? Who is supposed to take the lead in producing and promoting the use of biofuels? Is it supposed to be the DA, since the production of biofuels is supposed to be all about planting biofuel ...
Read more

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES As it is supposed to be, anyone in the Philippines should be able to dial 911, and a telephone operator should be able to dispatch fire, rescue, ambulance and police (FRAP) units as soon as possible, based on acceptable response times. I invented the FRAP acronym for easy recall, and I hope it sticks, if there is no other alternative. Unfortunately, due to a mixture of technical and political reasons, the Philippines has not adopted 911 as a national number, because some LGUs would rather use their own three-digit numbers such as 117 and 168. I actually proposed a technical solution to that problem, but it was not adopted either. For whatever it is worth, my solution is to install a call forwarding system that could route all calls to a central operator, regardless of what number is dialed. It is very sad for me to know that up to now, even if our country is already over one hundred years old, there are still many LGUs that do not have fire trucks. it ...
Read more