By Samira Gutoc
It has been more than a year since the Philippines, along with the world, succumbed to COVID19 pandemic and it created a massive impact on our lives and on how we will be facing the future. This event also accelerated our digitization demands whether we are ready or not on a larger scale. In the following paragraphs, we focused on two important facets that are affecting the majority of our households – business and education.
In the study, Best Accounting Software ranked the Philippines 78th out of 99 countries in terms of the Best Countries to Set Up an Online Business, Philippines only recorded an overall score of 34.34 where we scored poorly in indicators that pertained to Internet, broadband connectivity, and especially in Internet security. (Best Accounting Software measured the performance of economies according to Internet Coverage and Penetration as well as Country Wealth and Ease of Processes.)
In terms of mobile Internet speed, the country averaged 17.83 mbps and scored 7.47 overall; Broadband Internet Speed, 27.07 and scored 9.85; Number of Fixed Broadband Subscriptions, 3.87 people per 100 population; and Internet Users, 67 percent of the population and scored 57.33.
For Social Media Users, the Philippines averaged 67 percent of the population and scored 65.59 overall; and Bills Online, 9.9 percent of the population and scored 10.11 overall.
In terms of Secure Internet Servers, only 111 Filipinos per 1 million people had secure servers and gave the country a score of 0.04 overall. This is the lowest performance for this category compared to other Asean countries included in the ranking.
e-Biz
There are six countries with the same timezone as the Philippines; 237 co-work spaces, the second highest among the Asean countries on the list; digital skills, a score of 77.22, the third highest in the Asean nations on the list; logistics, a score of 39.53 overall; and postal development index score, 37.93.
These challenges initially made the digital economy unattractive to many Filipinos. The results of the National ICT Household Survey (NICTHS) showed more than half or 63.7 percent of interviewed communities do not have telecommunication towers in their areas.
Further, the NICTHS data showed the majority or 70.2 percent of interviewed barangays do not have fiber-optic cables installed in their communities. The data also showed 87.8 percent of these barangays did not have free Wi-Fi.
The data even showed that the majority or 54 percent of sampled individuals in the NICTHS said they were unaware that financial transactions can be performed online.
In terms of region, Filipinos living in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) were the most unaware that financial transactions can be made online at 89.3 percent.
Social media and virtual meetings, domestically and across the globe, have become the “new normal” as people strive to keep normalcy in their lives amid pandemic restrictions. Here in the Philippines, Digital 2020 April Statshot report by Hootsuite and We Are Social revealed that 64% of Filipino internet users are spending more time on social media, with 23% indicating an increased activity in their online shopping activity.
With consumers resorting more to online shopping amid pandemic restrictions, entrepreneurs have embraced the digital phenomenon for online shopping even more. E-commerce websites such as Lazada and Shopee are at the forefront of these online shopping platforms with expected surges in sales revenues in millions of pesos. Various Facebook groups also have sprouted to encourage more communities to feature SME empowerment and many more like the Bounce Back Philippine, and “online palengke” that offers modest products in local areas.
Technology has already transformed online business transactions into an infinite marketplace where conducting business has become more convenient and efficient for both vendors and vendees. The COVID-19 pandemic has made this marketplace a more obvious necessity. This also paves the way for generating jobs for various motorcycle delivery riders from Grab, Lalamove, Foodpanda, Mr.Speedy and more.
Where internet services are available, Filipino consumers experience slow download speeds. At 16.76 megabytes per second (Mbps), the Philippines’s mobile broadband speed is much lower than the global average of 32.01 Mbps. In the region, the 3G/4G mobile average download speed stands at 13.26 Mbps compared to only seven (7) Mbps in the Philippines.
According to World Bank Economist Kevin Chua, lead author of the report, increasing digital adoption by the government, businesses, and citizens is critical, not only to help the Philippines adapt to the post-COVID-19 world, but also to achieve its vision of becoming a society free of poverty by 2040.
“In this society-wide digital transformation, the government can take the lead by speeding up e-governance projects, such as the foundational identification system and the digitization of its processes and procedures, which will help promote greater inclusion, improve efficiency, and enhance security,” said Chua. “Moreover, the government can take an active role in fostering policies that reduce the digital divide and create a more conducive business environment for the digital economy to flourish.”
Mobile internet is an important route to get users online, but growth in this area is constrained somewhat by the cost and complexity of deploying supporting infrastructure across a vast archipelago like the Philippines.
Titled “A Better Normal Under Covid-19: Digitalizing the Philippine Economy Now,” the report says that the use of digital technologies such as digital payments, e-commerce, telemedicine, and online education, is rising in the Philippines and has helped individuals, businesses, and the government cope with social distancing measures, ensure business continuity, and deliver public services during the pandemic.
Last year, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) estimated that 73,276 online businesses registered during the pandemic between March 16 and August 31, the height of the lockdowns.
Data shared by NEDA (National Economic and Development Authority) Secretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the economic shutdown forced 23.7 million Filipinos to go hungry and 4.5 million into poverty last year. Further, a total of 2.7 million Filipinos became unemployed and some 438,809 Filipinos died between January and October 2020 due to non-Covid-19 reasons. He noted that based on data from the PSA, between January and October 2020, only 5,746 Filipinos died due to Covid-19, while 100,676 Filipinos died of other causes.
e-Learning
We have been advocating equal rights with access to education but the gap widened during this pandemic.
The COVID-19 has resulted in schools shut all across the world. Globally, over 1.2 billion children are out of the classroom. In the Philippines, 24,723,533 elementary and high school students in both public and private schools started their classes last year, according to the Department of Education (DepEd)
Enrollment was 3 million lower than last year’s 27.7 million students. Majority of the unenrolled students are from private schools, while over 400,000 of them have transferred to public schools.
A week before the school opening, the DepEd was still training its teachers for distance learning. This posed a problem as some teachers found it difficult to adapt to the revamped education system due to lack of knowledge in technology.
We are hopeful that e-learning can empower more students, especially in those areas where we have been seeing teachers and students traversing very dangerous paths just to go to school due to poor road infrastructures.
For those who do have access to the right technology, there is evidence that learning online can be more effective in a number of ways. Some research shows that on average, students retain 25-60% more material when learning online compared to only 8-10% in a classroom. This is mostly due to the students being able to learn faster online; e-learning requires 40-60% less time to learn than in a traditional classroom setting because students can learn at their own pace, going back and re-reading, skipping, or accelerating through concepts as they choose.
The decision to open classes in the middle of a pandemic was met with criticism. Students and parents pointed out that their household finances have been affected by months of lockdown, and they could not afford to buy the tools needed for the revamped education system.
As we celebrate Social Media Day, let’s look deeper on its essence on why most of us are more present online and on why our government should also prioritize improving this facility in terms of access, affordability, and capabilities.
Social media is also a two-sided coin, we often encounter fake news, online trolls and unpleasant influencers who hype on negativity like abuse, cyber security attacks and other online crimes. I have my own share of unfortunate experiences but I still believe that this portal has kinder objectives by inspiring most of us.
We are also now more vocal in expressing our mental health issues due to pandemic and some of us can relate with our personal struggles due to uncertainties, especially when we or part of our loved ones have been afflicted by COVID19.
On the bright side, we get inspired by the viral stories of Reymark Mariano from Sultan Kudarat, the Community Pantry, and many more communities and families who are benefiting from the generosity of random strangers. Ako Bakwit that caters to displaced families from Marawi siege has also been able to show how Filipinos are always ready to help each other amid our differences, and respective regional quarantine protocols. We may still have our physical challenges but the goodness amongst us remains “in-touch” with each other.
Nobody knows what lies ahead and more studies are needed to maximize the digital transformation. But as far as experts and the millions who found their hope online are concerned, the online community is here to stay and millions of people will be all the better for it.
