8 January 2021 — Around 30,000 residents have already enrolled in the Baguio In My Pocket (BIMP) free smart phone application with the number expected to significantly increase in the coming weeks thru aggressive registration and information campaigns.
Thus, reported City Mayor’s Office chief of staff Engr. Philip Puzon during the regular management committee meeting of city officials led by Mayor Benjamin Magalong, January 6, at Baguio Convention Center.
BIMP is a collection of applications aimed at promoting an e-government ecosystem to include cashless payment transactions, citizen data management, contact tracing and other essential services for the people of Baguio.
Puzon said the program started in July of last year when a memorandum of agreement was signed between the city and Pasig-based Information Technology Business Solutions (ITBS) Corporation, the app’s provider.
ITBS then trained more than 80 authorized registration officers (AROs) who were accredited by the local civil registry office and utilized for the program’s pilot testing at Irisan barangay in October as its proof of concept.
“The pilot testing proved successful as the AROs were able to register around 23,000 barangay residents in just three weeks despite delays and other unforeseen circumstances paving the way for a city-wide roll-out of the program,” he said.
As part of the strategy to increase the number of data gatherers as AROs for the city-wide registration’s implementation, Puzon said, assistance of the Baguio Sanggunian Kabataan (SK) Federation headed by councilor Levy Lloyd Orcales was sought.
On November 29 at City Hall multi-purpose hall, ITBS trained more than 80 SK representatives from the city’s barangays.
“The goal is to register every Baguio resident, each family member, to the free BIMP application,” he stressed.
In December, all city government officials and employees were required to enroll in the BIMP app. Three booths manned by AROs were set-up at City Hall, Dec. 7 to 18, to facilitate the registration process.
Puzon said the app is currently being used for business and real property tax assessments with its QR code features for entry protection and access to City Hall.
Engagements are presently ongoing with various payment solution providers, he added.
Targets for this year, Puzon said, are the full implementation of the business portal app (scan to check-in) on January 11; Online Marketplace, Market to Home Delivery, Riders’ app and E-Gov Online Payment, all on February 15.
He added that BIMP assistance booths are installed at the City hall lobby and flagpole are and at Baguio Central School for those interested to register in the free BIMP app.-Gaby B. Keith