Gov’t agencies told to detail anti-red tape performance in Senate 2020 budget hearings

Senator Sonny Angara EDWIN BACASMAS/INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Government agencies should detail their anti-red tape performance when they face Senate hearings on the proposed 2020 national budget, Senator Sonny Angara said on Tuesday.

“Anti-red tape performance will now be part of the budget review. These will also be part of the key performance indicators that an agency promises to meet in exchange for the appropriations it will get,” Angara, chair of the Senate Committee on Finance, said in a statement.

Angara said government agencies would be asked to specify the steps taken to implement the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 during finance committee hearings on the proposed national budget for 2020.

Certain agencies would be asked to present a “before and after” timetable of the processing of a document, from request to release, he said.

“Kung, say, two days today, next year ba kayang one day na lang? Yung ganung pag-measure ng improvement ang kailangan natin. Para sa susunod na taon, pwede natin malaman kung natupad ba nila ang kanilang promissory note,” the senator said.

Angara, meanwhile, reminded agencies that anti-red tape law does not only require the “shortening of the processing time but includes cutting the number of documentary requirements.”

“When you reduce the number of documents, the speed by which an application moves increases. Hindi lang bawas oras, bawas gastos na rin,” he said.

Angara noted President Rodrigo Duterte’s fourth State of the Nation Address last July 22 where Chief Executive said that clearances and permits should be out in at least three days.

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A World Bank’s 2019 ease of doing business report showed the Philippines slipped 11 notches from its place at 113 in 2018 to 124 in 2019, he said.

But Angara noted that the Department of Finance and the Department of Trade and Industry said the government “has been hard at work in implementing initiatives to increase the country’s competitiveness.”

Angara is one of the authors of Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business Act, which was enacted in May 2018.

Under the said law, a “3-7-20” rule is put in place requiring government offices to complete simple transactions within three days, complex ones within seven days, and highly technical ones within 20 days.

The senator also co-authored Republic Act 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act, which instituted the no-noon break policy, no fixing activities, easy-to-read IDs or nameplates, presence of public assistance and complaints desks, and the implementation of the agency’s Citizen’s Charter which contains the types of frontline services offered with the step-by-step procedure, the person responsible for each step, time needed to transact, documents required, and fees.