The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), in partnership with the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP), and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), held its 10th Digital Governance Awards (DGA) at the National Museum in Manila on March 30, 2023. The event recognized the outstanding practices of local government units (LGUs) that effectively deliver public services using innovative ICT tools, solutions, and approaches.

Established in 2009, the DGA is an annual competition that challenges LGUs to raise the standards of public service by harnessing the potential of ICT to provide clearer, wider, and faster access to information. Its winners are chosen from different levels (city, municipality, and province) for each of the five categories, namely: Best in Customer Empowerment (G2C) Award, Best in Business Empowerment (G2B) Award, Best in Inter-Operability (G2G) Award, Best in Government Internal Operations (G2I) Award, and Special Citations on Innovative Use of Funds and Transformational and Disruptive Solutions.

In the Best in Customer Empowerment (G2C) Provincial Category, the Province of Agusan del Sur was hailed as champion with the Integrated Hospital Operations Management System (iHOMS) as its winning entry competing against twenty eight (28) finalist provinces from all over the country. Developed by the Provincial Information Management Office (PIMO), iHOMS is an information system that aims to automate hospital processes and transactions, ushering a streamlined delivery of health services to the public. In addition to the championship award, the entry was also prized with a 55-inch Huawei Smart Vision TV from Huawei Technologies Philippines as one of the top 5 highest LGU scorers across all categories.

With this victory, the Provincial Government of Agusan del Sur takes its place among the ranks of technology trailblazers in local governance and solidifies its continued commitment to advancing the use of ICT in providing its constituents with efficient, effective, and transformative service.