Twala Tapped by Senate for Digitalization Efforts
The MOU also obliged the entities involved to assess the internal processes that should be prioritized for Senate digitization.
Weeks after partnering with various private organizations, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-backed digital signature platform Twala announced its partnership with another organization—this time, with the legislative branch of the government.
Twala x Senate
Earlier this month, Twala and the Senate of the Philippines, with Senate Secretary Atty. Renato Bantug Jr., and Twala CEO Engr. Jeffrey Reyes as representatives, e-signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that seeks to help the Upper House’s internal processes by migrating their paper-based processes online.
Senate’s digitalization system is expected to enhance efficiency, reduce costs, and elevate security in operations, as per Twala.
“The PARTIES share a mutual interest in collaborating and cooperating to digitalize the Senate’s internal processes, to save on personnel time and cost to the public, help reduce its carbon footprint, and make these processes more efficient, secure, and client-friendly,” the MOU read.
Further, the MOU also obliged the entities involved to assess the internal processes that should be prioritized for Senate digitization, discuss a pilot implementation program, and come up with an assessment for future digitalization efforts.
“The Senate of the Philippines supports Filipino tech startups in line with the Innovative Startup Act. We are excited to collaborate with Twala, an exemplar of innovation that can help modernize our processes in government and better serve both the public and the environment,” said Electronic Data Processing and Management Information System (EDP-MIS) Director Mario Antonio Sulit.
The EDP-MIS and the Bureau and Human Resources Management Service (HRMS) are the two departments in the Upper House that are tasked with the Senate’s digitalization efforts with Twala.
“We are excited to see this partnership through and help bring in more efficient and employee-centered HR processes in the Senate,” HRMS Director Christian Borja highlighted.
The MOU signed is the first known agreement that the Senate has made with a local tech startup, according to Twala.
Twala’s Recent Partnerships
In July last year, Twala was tapped by telecom giant PLDT to produce a blockchain-powered document and digital signature platform.
A month later, the DOST–Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (PCIEERD) has awarded a grant worth ₱4.6 million to Twala, with the aim to further help firms power their remote or hybrid work arrangements through the startup’s digital signature solution.
Meanwhile, in April 2023, Twala confirmed that it had a consultation meeting with the Judiciary Branch. According to Twala, the Supreme Court of the Philippines requested them to contribute their insights to the current efforts to create regulations that would enable the use of e-notarization in the country.
After then, just last month, Twala signed partnerships with two non-government organizations for digitalization efforts.
It signed a two-year, ₱2 million contract with the National Confederation of Cooperatives (NATCCO), a federation of more than 700 cooperatives in the country, to further promote digitalization among cooperatives in the country.
Twala also partnered with the Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines (OSHDP), a group of mass housing developers in the country, to digitalize housing transactions in the country.
“Everything we do in government ends up in some document that needs to be signed or notarized. If we are able to digitalize this final product in a secure and cost-effective way, the rest of the steps will easily follow,” Twala General Counsel Atty. Third Bagro expressed in an interview.
“If we were able to leapfrog in the financial sector from no smartphones to everyone having digital wallets suddenly, because of the pandemic, there should be no reason not to be able to sign documents also using our smartphones.”
This article is published on BitPinas: Twala Tapped by Senate for Digitalization Efforts
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