The City Government of Borongan made a crucial step forward in its smart city initiative with the launching of the Libre Sakay Application and the inauguration of the Smart Technologies Research, Development, and Innovation Center at the Eastern Samar State University-Main Campus today, March 4.
Among Smart City Borongan’s priority projects is the Libre Sakay application which was officially launched alongside the unveiling of the Smart Technologies Innovation Center at ESSU. The app is set to augment the operations of the city’s Libre Sakay program where recipients of the free transport service are given easy access to the transport system with its QR-generated IDs and bus tracking features, among others. Earlier today, a demonstration of how to use the app took place with two of the Libre Sakay buses transporting the first batch of Libre Sakay student enrollees from the city center to ESSU. The Libre Sakay bus stops were also identified along the way as the vehicles picked up each student passenger.
Mounted through the Department of Science and Technology, Smart City Borongan is a triple-index program involving the national government, the academe through the Eastern Samar State University, and the Local Government Unit of Borongan as a recipient of its projects. With the inauguration of the Smart Technologies Innovation Center, the program is poised to generate more advanced technologies aimed at LGU Borongan’s bureaucratic efficiency and the seamless deployment of its services.
In his message, Borongan City Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda foregrounded the significance of the city’s collaboration with ESSU and DOST in its bid towards digitalization.
“Ang pagtutulungan at collaboration with our national agency and the academe talagang nagbubunga po ng maganda—and alam ko po that the think-tank of our city will be the State University,” Agda stated.
To capacitate the research center, a mobilization fund from DOST amounting to Php 1,000,000 was turned over to the ESSU administration at the ceremony. The fund is allocated for the purchase of necessary equipment to be used in the design and implementation of Smart City programs. Students of the university’s Computer Engineering and Information Technology program will comprise the team charged with the research and conceptualization of the projects, with direct supervision from competent professors in the academic institution.
DOST Undersecretary Sancho Mabborang, on the other hand, expressed great hope for the research center and its potential to produce luminary researchers and trailblazing innovations in a speech addressed to the program stakeholders.
“This establishment will serve as a hub for groundbreaking research collaboration and the nurturing of future pioneers, equipped with advance resources. I hope that the center will be able to empower researchers to conduct cutting edge-research addressing real world challenges,” said Mabborang.
Also present at the activity were OIC- Regional Director for Region VIII Marilyn Radam, ESSU President Andres Pagatpatan, the city council led by Vice Mayor Emman Tiu Sonco, department heads, and students of the Eastern Samar State University.
According to Melvin Sacmar of DOST-Eastern Visayas, Smart City Borongan is a long-term program that aims to create innovative avenues for the delivery of the LGU’s basic services. He added that aside from the Libre Sakay application, a Human Resource Management Information System (HRMIS) is also slated to be launched by the city government for the efficient recording of its employees’ profiles.
The City of Borongan, along with the City of Ormoc, are the only LGUs in Region 8 selected by the DOST for its Smart City program—making Borongan the first implementor of the Smart City initiative in Eastern Visayas.
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