Bataan Vice Governor Cristina Garcia: We want to embed blockchain into everyday services

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The Philippines has become a global leader in blockchain adoption, and the province of Bataan is leading the country’s blockchain-enabled digitalization efforts. At the London Blockchain Conference, a contingent from Bataan shared the leaps they are making as they strive to embed blockchain into all public services.

“We’re focusing on digitalizing the data that we already have in healthcare, education, and other sectors,” Vice Governor Cristina Garcia told CoinGeek Backstage reporter Becky Liggero.

The goal is to integrate blockchain into “the everyday lives of the Filipinos in Bataan,” she added.

At the conference, Garcia led other government officials from Bataan, who showcased some of the blockchain projects the province is undertaking in partnership with nChain. The London-based enterprise blockchain powerhouse inked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the provincial government in early 2023 to streamline government processes with blockchain.

The vice governor stated that one key target for the province is to cut down on the long, tedious, and costly bureaucratic processes that characterize most government services:

“Being a government with limited resources, we want to focus on what needs to be prioritized and making service delivery easier. If we have seven steps and [with blockchain] we can cut that down to two or three, it will make a big difference for us.”

A key focus of the nChain-Bataan partnership is blockchain-powered digital identity, according to Kara Herrera, the province’s blockchain lead. Under President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., the Philippines is pushing for the adoption of a digital ID, with the recently-launched eGov super app seen as the critical first step towards this goal.

Digital identity and blockchain technology will make government processes more transparent and boost accountability, added Joseph Pagdanganan, the provincial focal person on blockchain in Bataan.

“Blockchain offers unlimited opportunities for us,” he stated.

Watch: The Philippines is ready for blockchain tech, nChain Chairman Stefan Matthews says