Duterte orders efficiency in government transactions.
Credit to Author: The Manila Times| Date: Thu, 27 Feb 2020 06:00:15 +0000
PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has directed all government offices to eliminate excessive regulation in their processes or else face administrative complaints.
In Administrative Order (AO) 23, which took effect immediately after the President signed it on February 21, all government offices and agencies, including local government units and government-owned and controlled corporations, are ordered to hasten the reform of their public transactions by eliminating “overregulation.”
“Excessive regulations at all levels of government which are more than necessary to implement their respective mandates create high cost on businesses, inhibit job creation and discourage private sector investment,” he added.
Duterte instructed government agencies to retain steps, procedures, and requirements that may be necessary to fulfill their legal mandates and policy objectives.
Under the order, the entirety of an agency’s processes for its public services will be subject to scrutiny, “from the most established and long-standing aspects thereof to the most recent.”
The order cited Republic Act 11302 or the “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Act of 2018” that allows the adoption of simplified requirements and procedures that will reduce red tape and hasten business and non-business transitions in government.
The President has assigned the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), led by Jeremiah Belgica, to monitor and ensure compliance with his directive to remove overregulation.
Government agencies have also been directed to submit a compliance report, which will contain the government agency’s list of regulations on its services offered to the public, including relevant provisions of its citizen’s charter, to ARTA as well as the Office of the President within 60 days from the effectivity of AO 23.
The President has directed ARTA to review and evaluate the compliance reports submitted by covered agencies and present to his office its findings and recommendations. CATHERINE S. VALENTE