Can’t pay cloud bills, DICT shuts down 12 systems

  • DICT Usec. David Almirol, eGov, Senator Bam Aquino

There is no budget to pay for the cloud services of eGov, leading to the shutdown of 12 systems.

This disclosure prompted Senate Committee on Basic Education and the Senate Committee on Science and Technology Chairman Bam Aquino on Wednesday, April 29, to raise concerns over the stability of the government’s digital infrastructure.

“Is it because wala kayong pambayad ng cloud server space?” Aquino asked during a Senate hearing. He later added, “I mean, that’s insane to me — na magsasara ang eGov because wala tayong pambayad.”

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), through Undersecretary for e-Government David Almirol Jr., acknowledged the issue, confirming that the disruption stemmed from budget constraints affecting cloud server resources.

“Na-no choice po kami, Mr. Chair — sad to say. We disabled 12 gov’t systems,” Almirol said, describing the shutdown as unavoidable.

“Opo, ’yon po ang reality, Mr. Chair,” Almirol added.

Recently, the eGov platform experienced temporary downtime due to a surge in user activity, with the DICT assuring the public that there was no cause for concern.

eGovPH back online after brief downtime, DICT assures services stable

In response, the DICT worked to strengthen the back-end systems of the eGovPH Super App following recent outages that temporarily limited user access to its services.

DICT to upgrade eGovPH servers to prevent outages, improve service

The eGovPH app serves as a centralized digital gateway for public services, integrating transactions from multiple agencies into a single platform. It includes features such as digital travel declarations, access to the digital national ID, local government services, document signing, and AI-assisted support.

The platform has reached 40 million downloads as of 2026 and is linked to millions of digital national ID records, making it a key access point for identity verification and government transactions.

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