Responding to a report from the Regional Development Council-I (RDC-I) stating that Ilocos Norte has the least web presence in the region, the Metro Ilocos Norte ICT Council (MINICTC), headed by Dr. Miriam E. Pascua, conducted a Web Design and Web Development Training Workshop for ICT focal persons, April 20-24, at the Information, Communication, and Training Center.

Packed with a series of lectures and hand-on activities, the training-workshop aimed to provide the identified ICT focal persons from the local government units and regional line agencies of Ilocos Norte with working knowledge on web design and development. According to RDC-I, there are only two LGUs in Ilocos Norte that have active and updated websites: San Nicolas and Badoc.

The seminar-workshop was attended by participants representing 15 local government units (LGUs), 4 regional line agencies, and 5 higher educational institutions (HEIs). They were taught to identify the standard features of an e-government website; explain the basic features, operations, and executions of web pages, sites, and portals; and use the Joomla open source software.

Led by Mr. Reynold P. Villacillo, acting director of ICTC, professors and instructos from MMSU and other HEIs in the province served as resouce speakers and facilitators. Funding for the training-workshop came from the provincial government.

At the end of the five-day affair, with President Pascua in attendance, the participants presented web page prototypes for their respective LGUs and agencies. Facilitators offered advice on how to futher improve the websites for immediate operationalization.

In her message during the closing program, President Pascua posited that intensified web presence means opening gates to spur the development of the province. She underscored the importance of websites in promoting ecotourism and in boosting trade and commerce.

Formed on Dec. 2 last year with the support of the provincial government, the MINICTC is composed of LGUs, HEIs, NGOs, regional line agencies, and private organizations. Dr. Miriam E. Pascua was elected as chairman of the council with Mr. John T. Chua, president of the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Ilocos Norte, as vice chairman. One of the priority projects of the group is web intensification and development.

Even before MINICTC was formed, MMSU has been giving assistance to LGUs. Similar trainings, albeit in smaller scale, were conducted last year to jumpstart the e-governance initiatives and projects of the university. These activities were initiated hand in hand by the Department of Computer Science and the ICT Group of the university.