Argao plans automated tax payment system

CEBU - As a result of the launching of the much-awaited local broadband network on Friday, the municipality of Argao would soon be developing its automated tax payment system.

“This means, that the tax payers would be able to pay their taxes in their respective barangays.. dili na sila mo-ari sa munisipyo,” Ben Momongan, Argao’s information technology consultant who spearheaded the project, said in an interview with The FREEMAN.

Momongan said all 45 barangays of the town already have computers, thus providing an Internet connection for the entire municipality would no longer be a problem.

The idea of the automated tax payment system came up when Mayor Edsel Galeos found out that there are taxpayers from the upland who would go to the town hall to pay their taxes.

Their travel expenses, however, turned out to be bigger than their tax rates.

“Through the tax automated system, we will be able to provide convenience and efficiency to the Argaowanons,” Momongan said.

Momongan and the IT personnel are already starting to put up the local broadband network, seeing to it that the project would be done before it is to be formally launched this Friday.

By the end of this month, the municipality aims to provide wireless Internet connections to 13 coastal barangays of Argao.

Apart from the automated tax system, the implementation of the local broadband has a lot of advantages.

First, according to Momongan, they would be able to provide free telephone subscription to all the barangays of Argao. The Argaowanons would also be able to avail themselves of a free call to the United States and Canada.

Second, the municipality would be able to provide free Internet systems to the citizens of Argao.

“All our schools will have free Internet… even our fellow Argaowanons who are living in the uplands will have free Internet,” Momongan said.

Lastly, through the broadband network, the town will put up a surveillance camera that would monitor its peace and order situation.

“This is very helpful especially for crime purposes,” Momongan said, adding that they are planning to install 10 cameras, including the one to be installed in the police patrol car.

The cameras, according to him, can revolve around 360 degrees and can zoom for up to 12 kilometers.

Through this, Momongan said that the police would be able to record or even replay criminal acts that may happen all over the town.

The broadband network, Momongan disclosed, is not a Wi-Fi connection but rather a WiMax.

A WiMax is a digital communication system that can provide a broadband wireless access (BWA) up to 50 kilometers for fixed stations and file to 15 kilometers for mobile stations.

In contrast, a Wi-Fi local area network standard is limited in most cases to only 30 to 100 meters. — Joy Kareen T. Saliente/LPM (THE FREEMAN)