Digital transformation is now a public sector imperative.

Digital transformation is a priority for the Marcos administration as he called on the public sector to participate in the new "digital world."

"We cannot allow the Philippines to get left behind," President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said in his speech at the Union Bank Innovation Campus inaugurated in San Pedro City, Laguna.

"We, in government, have gone a step further than that. Not only is it a viable way of doing business, but it is also the only way that we will be doing business in the coming years," he added.

The Chief Executive called on the private and public sectors to leverage the "silver lining" brought by the Covid-19 pandemic, accelerating technology adoption to enhance the digital way of doing business.

"We found avenues that brought us closer together, and despite the lockdown and the distance between us. We learned to hold meetings, even court trials, online," the President said.

"Initiatives like what we inaugurated are precisely the kind of innovations, the kind of forward-thinking, operations, and actions that we will need, not only in the private sector but also in the public sector, so that we, in government, can be participants in the new digital world," Marcos added.

The President was impressed walking through the different displays and listening to the explanations of the briefings from Union Bank officials.

The Chief Executive immediately directed Trade Secretary Pascual to discuss with UnionBank representatives the "many opportunities between the private sector, and this particular campus, and government."

He said his administration is keen to take advantage of the excellent work Union Bank has initiated that will improve the bank's business position and its partners.

"It will increase the economic activity that we in government, we in the bureaucracy will be able to process, will be able to handle, and it will make it easier, for not only big corporations, but ordinary citizens, who generally are not included in the digital world as of now, to now be included and to take advantage of all the conveniences, all of the efficiencies, and all of the new products that will come out of these new technologies," Marcos added.

The Philippines is looking at the digital transformation to urgently respond to the multi-sectoral call for enhanced public service delivery and improved Internet access under the new normal.

The digitalization of the government processes is one of the main goals of the Marcos administration to connect government to government, government to businesses; government to citizens; and everybody to each other."

Marcos described the UBP Campus initiative to fit perfectly into the three-year Digital Payments Transformation Roadmap of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, promoting the digitalization of payments toward furthering financial inclusion.

This Roadmap has the twin objectives of converting at least 50 percent of the total retail transaction volume into digital form and onboarding 70 percent of Filipino adults to the formal financial system by next year, 2023.

To achieve these targets, the President said, "We need to hone our competencies in software development, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain technology, amongst others. This is in line with our goals under the Philippine Skills Framework."

He said the Philippines should be at par with other countries in adapting to the digital and modern age to serve the people efficiently, generate more jobs, and secure the nation's economic revitalization.

He described the UnionBank campus as "precisely the kind of innovations, forward-thinking, operations, and actions that the country needs, not only in the private sector but also in the public sector."

The government, he noted, can be a participant in the new digital world.

"To sustain growth and promote new advances in this sector, I hope that you will explore the limitless possibilities and take advantage of the many bright ideas that our experts have so that we can generate more jobs and secure our nation's economic revitalization," he said.