Makati skyline (INQUIRER.net stock image)
MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the creation of a single operating system for all government transactions to ensure ease of doing business in the country.
The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said Marcos approved the initiative during Tuesday’s sectoral meeting on improving bureaucratic efficiency.
According to the PCO, the President said during the meeting that various agencies working on a code or policy must consider the differences between national bureaucracy and local government units (LGUs).
He also noted technological reasons, as well as political and local considerations, to comply with the law, emphasizing that the government has to deal with such issues.
“I think it may help when you’re writing the code or when you’re putting the system together, you’re going to have to think about the differences between the national bureaucracy and the different LGUs,” Marcos said, as quoted by the PCO in a statement on Wednesday.
“Those are the things that we still work with. The questions we were trying to bring it down to that level, and the local governments are really part of that thing. You’ve seen how it can happen. That’s what we need to address,” he added.
READ: Ease of doing business still firms’ top concern in PH
The PCO said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) are currently mapping the processes of different agencies so they can collate them in a single system.
Even LGUs are covered by the ease of doing business law under Section 11, which requires them to set up and traditionalize electronic business one-stop-shop to standardize LGU requirements.
For this, Marcos also directed the DICT and ARTA to assist LGUs in adopting the Business Permits and Licensing Systems in All Cities and Municipalities (BPLS) system.
According to the PCO, government officials who attended the meeting said they conducted stakeholder consultations involving all government agencies to look at their processes and requirements with the aim of encouraging them to use a unified application form, linking them to the network that sets up a “one-stop-shop.”
READ: Marcos Jr vows to lower cost of doing business as PH, Japan sign 35 deals
The proposal is to extend the coverage to other types of business like what was done by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on the creation of a one-stop-shop for big-ticket investments.
The PCO said agency officials are also looking at integrating all processes for migrant workers, maritime, as well as shipping industries with the government’s own processes through data sharing in a bid to reduce requirements and processing time.
Data sharing may help avoid repetitious requirements since documents submitted to one agency may no longer be required in another agency.
To ensure the strengthened implementation of streamlining and digitalization initiatives, the PCO said ARTA is requesting the approval of proposed revisions to Executive Order No. 482-2005 to make it responsive to the current situation and the issuance of corresponding Administrative Orders and Executive Oorders.
READ: More Japanese firms interested in investing in Philippines
Further, to ensure the administration’s efforts in streamlining and improving the efficiency of government services, the government, through the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) program, is carrying out TradeNet, Manual for the Reengineering of Business Permits and Licensing Systems in All Cities and Municipalities (BPLS Manual) and Streamlined Guidelines for the Issuance of Permits, Licenses, and Certificates for the Construction of Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure (PTTIs).
Among those who met with President Marcos were DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary David Almirol Jr., ARTA Director General Ernesto Perez, and Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio.
RELATED STORY
Despite reforms, PH 124th in ease of doing business