Mayor Ortega, who participated in the 5th Information Communication Technology (ICT) Conference of Asia Pacific in Tokyo, Japan last month, said she will help provide 200 more computers for elementary school children in the city this year.

"I do not want our children to be left out of the global competitiveness," the mayor said during a radio program, entitled "Agay-Ayat Kadakayo Amin (Loving You All)."

At the start of her administration in 1998, City Hall haf only 10 computers used by the personnel, mostly of the Apple type, considered "jurassic-age computers" today, the mayor recalled.

She said that at present, over 200 computers are being used in the different departments of the city government.

Two hundred-eighty computers, donated by Ansan, South Korea, were recently distributed to different schools, non-government organizations and city government offices.

"Now the City Hall uses Pentium 3 and 4 computers, including several laptops," Mayor Ortega said, lauding how quick city government personnel have developed their skills in computer operation and communication.

She expressed surprise over reports that the San Fernando City government web site is often visited by net surfers, both here and abroad. "Our news is up to date, unlike other web sites."

The mayor also said that the bidding of the contract for the construction of the sanitary landfill was done through a computer communication and through her E-mail address. She has received letters from students seeking her help in their school homework, application of marriage certificates, and compliments from a Hong Kong journalist and a foreign businessman based in Makati City.

"I didn’t know that all of these (we are doing) are appreciated. I thought that to reply to them (e-mail senders) is enough, but out in the international field, these are the types of interaction that we see," the mayor said, adding that she is hoping that there is a continuing ICT program in the city to help transform society into better communicators. (William Jun Garcia)