Anti-Red Tape Authority officer in charge Ernesto Perez is now the agency’s director general. (INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) officer-in-charge Ernesto Perez has been named by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as the agency’s director general, the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) confirmed in a statement on Monday.
Perez succeeds lawyer Jeremiah Belgica. Perez was appointed officer-in-charge last June by then-President Rodrigo Duterte, just days before stepping down from office. Perez replaced Jeremiah Belgica who was placed under preventive suspension by the Office of the Ombudsman due to pending graft charges.
“This appointment is really providential, as it would allow us to further continue what we have always aspired for from the very start, that is, to remove red tape and increase the ease of doing business, ultimately benefiting the economy and the people,” Perez said.
“I thank President Bongbong Marcos for his trust and for Executive Secretary Bersamin’s guidance and support, as well as my colleagues in the [ARTA], who are doing the legwork to ensure effective and efficient government service delivery,” he added.
“ARTA will continue to be committed to performing its mandate by improving the ease of doing business in the country to help attract more investors. We will do our best to realize PBBM’s vision for government agencies to streamline their processes to provide better services to people,” he said.
When Perez was tapped to lead ARTA, the agency revealed that the career official was actually the agency’s first-ever employee, being assigned as the ARTA head last December 2018 before Belgica stepped in on July 8, 2019.
ARTA also said that Perez, a lawyer and a certified public accountant, is qualified for the job, having served as assistant secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) from January 2017 to November 2018.
Before being appointed to lead ARTA, he was also the chairperson of the DTI-Steel Task Force that led the probe of the biggest steel importation in the country.
“He likewise served as OIC-Director of the Bureau of Philippine Standards, where he promulgated the development of 108 new standards and the revision of 151 Philippine National Standards aligned with the international standards of ISO/IEC and good regulatory practices of the World Trade Organization (WTO),” ARTA added.