Evaluating e-government initiatives in MLGUs: The case of the municipality of Marilao, Bulacan

A daunting challenge for the Philippines is the current thrust to achieve its development agenda, wherein the drive towards good governance is viewed as one of the cornerstones for achieving inclusive growth. A central theme in this reform effort is ensuring equitable access to government services. Enshrined in the Local Government Code of 1991 (R.A. 7160) and the e-Commerce Act of 2000 (R.A. 8792), this brings forth new responsibilities resulting to the constant challenge of ensuring adherence to the tenets of good governance and societal inclusion. Parallel with this emphasis is the growing recognition of the importance of utilizing ICT to ensure access to government services. Thus the practice of e-Government is recognized as a venue to achieve its goals for bureaucratic reform. However, in spite of the potentials of e-Government, there are increasing concerns about the failure of numerous e-Government projects to achieve its desired goals. This concern is accompanied by a clamor to device an approach to assess-evaluate e-Government services. This paper will explore the applicability of identifying possible e-Government scorecard items and e-Government implementation roadmap for MLGUs. Subscribing to qualitative-descriptive research methodology through a deductive approach, the paper intends to identify the dominant factors that support and hinder e-Government initiatives in MLGUs.