By Christine Cudis/Philippine News Agency
MANILA – Civil Service Commission (CSC) chairperson Alicia dela Rosa-Bala on Wednesday said the commission is one with President Rodrigo Duterte in delivering a better government service for the people.
Bala said the CSC has in fact been helping in the implementation of the Ease of Doing Business Act, through its Contract Center ng Bayan (CCB) hotline that hears complaints from applicants processing documents in government agencies.
“Through the CCB, we pick up ideas on what delays or how to improve the ease of doing business in the country. We make the Republic Act 11302 or the Anti-Red Tape Act fulfilled,” she said in a media interview on Wednesday at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay City.
Since 2012, the CSC has been running the CCB, a feedback mechanism designated as the government’s main helpdesk where citizens can request for information and assistance on government frontline service procedures, and report commendations, appreciation, complaints, and feedback.
Data from the CSC showed that for the year 2018, slow processing of documents and discourtesy from staff were the most common complaints addressed by the public through the CCB hotline.
The Land Transportation Office (LTO) topped the list with 307 complaints composed of slow processing, fixing activities, and poor facility.
The Social Security System (SSS) is in the second spot with 144 complaints addressed. Slow processing, discourtesy, and not following the no noon break policy were among the concerns.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) also received 107 calls citing slow processing, not following the no noon break policy, and failure to attend to clients during office hours.
The CSC also noted that the LTO, SSS and BIR along with Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) were also the top agencies that received commendation from the public.
According to the Anti-Red Tape Authority, the guilty officers face administrative liability such as six months suspension for the first offense.
For the second offense, the guilty official will face dismissal from the service, perpetual disqualification from holding public office and forfeiture of retirement benefits and imprisonment of one year to six years with a fine of not less than PHP500,000 but not more than PHP2 million.
In his 4th State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday (July 22), Duterte directed the LTO, SSS, BIR, Land Registration Authority (LRA) and Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) to reform their services and simplify their processes.
He also directed the mayors throughout the country to cut down the processing period of business permits to just three days.
The President ordered Department of the Interior and Local Government Secretary Eduardo Año for the local government unit (LGUs) “to see to it that this is honored”.
In May 2018, Duterte signed the East of Doing Business Act, which provides that simple transactions of business entities with the government should be processed within 3 days, 7 days for more substantial transactions, and 20 days for highly technical transactions.
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