SAN JUAN City was the top winner in the recently concluded Digital Governance Awards 2020 of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The city ranked first in the eGOV Customer Empowerment Category for Cities with its entry, “Education in the time of Covid19.”

Manila and Cauayan City, Isabela won second and third place, respectively.

San Juan City’s entry, “Education in time of Covid19”, highlighted efforts in providing gadgets such as tablets and laptops as well as fast and reliable internet connection to all students studying in San Juan public schools.

“One of my promises to our constituents when they elected me in office was for San Juan to become a Smart City. Just a few months after I was sworn in, 338 WiFi access points were installed. Six months into office, before the pandemic hit, all our 375 public school teachers received their laptops with a few more to spare for new hires, giving us a 1 is to 1 ratio between laptops and public school teachers,” Mayor Francis Zamora said.

“We are forging ahead with our Smart City initiative with connectivity being one of our top priorities in this pandemic to avoid having our teachers and students step out of their houses and put themselves at risk of contracting Covid19,” he explained.

The Digital Governance Awards is headed by the Department of Information and Communication Technology and the DILG in partnership with the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines.

San Juan City Administrator Atty. Dennis Albert Pamintuan thanked the institutions who spearheaded the awards.

“Aside from the Free WiFi For All, we are currently installing fiber optic internet connection to 8,000 households in San Juan City for the 13,000 students enrolled in our public schools specifically for online education. We were able to negotiate a great value for our constituents at a very low cost,” Pamintuan said.