The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) has teamed up with the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) to beef up its anti-fixer campaign.
ARTA has been visiting fixer-prone government agencies to conduct entrapment operations and surprise inspections that can eventually lead to the filing of cases against the head of the office, as part of its “snake-grab” approach.
Under the partnership between the two agencies, PACC will also look into government agencies with reports of rampant fixing and other red tape violations. It will also make sure that involved heads, most especially if presidential appointees, will be held accountable.
Secretary Jeremiah Belgica, ARTA Director General, said this will give the Authority access to the big fishes who are implementing red tape in their government offices.
“This partnership will bolster and accelerate the results of our ‘snake-grab’ approach to get to the bigger game who are enabling fixers, corrupt government workers, and other forms of red tape in their offices,” he said.
“This move is also pursuant to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s directive to eradicate corruption in the Philippine government in the last few months of his term,” he added.
In April, ARTA and PACC formalized their partnership with a Memorandum of Agreement ( MOA) that allows them to refer appropriate cases to each other for further investigation.
The MOA allows ARTA and PACC to “align and integrate their functions, coordination, and cooperation in handling complaints and reports of violations relative to the law or executive order creating them.”
“The Parties recognize that act/s or omission/s may constitute multiple offenses or violations of laws which fall to either or both jurisdiction,” the MOA read.
“The Parties recognize that there can be proper coordination for referral of cases pertaining to each of its respective jurisdiction,” it added.
Belgica said that the partnership is a way of implementing the whole-of-government approach which is mandated under Republic Act no. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
On 24 May 2021, ARTA also joined PACC and the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP) in signing a declaration and undertaking at the launch of the “Kasangga: Tokhang Kontra Korapsyon” program.
ARTA has partnered with the Department of Transportation, Department of the Interior and Local Government, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine National Police, and several local government units, among others, in its intensified anti-fixer campaign. (ARTA) -rir
