(BORONGAN CITY INFORMATION OFFICE)
TACLOBAN CITY – The city government of Borongan launched an application that will be used in the implementation of its ‘Libreng Sakay’ program.
Using the application, recipients of the free transport service are given easy access to the transport system with its QR-generated IDs, bus tracking features, and estimated time of arrival, among others.
The launching of the application, held last month, was led by City Mayor Jose Ivan Dayan Agda and Department of Science of Technology (DOST) Undersecretary Sancho Mabborang.
The application was developed by computer engineering students of the Eastern Samar State University (ESSU) in collaboration with the DOST and the city government of Borongan.
Students, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, and medical workers are to benefit from this Libreng Sakay program using five 50-seater bus that were procured by the city government in 2022.
“Ang pagtutulungan at collaboration with our national agency and the academe talagang nagbubunga po ng maganda—and alam ko po that the think-tank of our city will be the State University,” Agda stated during the launching.
Meantime, the city council members of Borongan had finalized the creation of the proposed ordinance “Establishing Free Transportation (Libre Sakay) for Students, PWDs, Senior Citizens, and Health Workers in Borongan City”.
Moreover, as part of Borongan’s gearing toward digitalization through the Smart City program of the DOST, the city government inaugurated the Smart Technologies Innovation Center inside the ESSU main campus.
“This establishment will serve as a hub for groundbreaking research collaboration and the nurturing of future pioneers, equipped with advanced resources. I hope that the center will be able to empower researchers to conduct cutting-edge research addressing real world challenges,” Usec. Mabborang said.
The DOST turned over P1 million to the ESSU administration as allocation for the purchase of necessary equipment needed to be used in the design and implementation of the Smart City Program.
Students of the university’s Computer Engineering and Information Technology program will comprise the team charged with the research and conceptualization of the projects, with direct supervision from competent professors in the academic institution.
(ROEL T. AMAZONA)
