The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), along with experts in the field of regulatory management, discussed what steps the government has been taking to ensure that its anti-red tape achievements will not be reversed in the future.
ARTA hosted the “Future-Proofing of Regulatory Reforms: An ARTA Webinar” on Aug. 16 as the administration of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is coming to an end.
Key personalities from the Authority, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), and the Center for Strategy, Enterprise, and Intelligence (CenSEI) spoke during the event.
In his special message, ARTA Director-General Sec. Jeremiah Belgica, a lawyer, enumerated four things that can help in future-proofing reforms: architectural vision, regulatory policies, technology, and advocacy champions.
The ARTA chief also said government agencies must be open to change, meaning they must subject their policies and guidelines to continuous review to keep up with the changing times.
“As a young man, I remember hearing one of my mentors tell me, ‘Whoever captures the dreams of the young will have before him the future.’ Kung sinuman ang makakakuha ng isip at puso ng mga kabataan, siya po ang makakakuha ng ating kinahaharap at kinabukasan,” he said.
“In the same way, I do believe that the future-proofing of regulatory reforms is a battle for the dreams and aspirations of the Filipino people,” he added.
The DICT, represented by Cristina Cristobal, discussed the Central Business Portal (CBP), a single platform that allows Filipinos to register new businesses online.
The CBP was rolled out by DICT and ARTA, along with other key agencies, in January 2021. It is a major provision of Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
No less than President Rodrigo Duterte praised the creation of the CBP during his sixth and final State of the Nation Address in July 2021. He also appealed to the succeeding administrations to continue using the platform.
ARTA Deputy Director-General for Operations Undersecretary Ernesto Perez, CPA, also a lawyer, gave a presentation about the Regulatory Impact Assessment (RIA) training that ARTA has been conducting and the Philippine Good Regulatory Principles (PGRP).
RIA trainings are mostly conducted for agencies that ARTA has received many complaints about. Once identified, their proposed regulations will have to undergo extensive reviews conducted by officials from ARTA, the Better Regulations Office (BRO) under the Office of the Deputy Director General for Operations, and DAP, to polish the proposed reforms before being implemented.
Toward the end of their training, they must present their Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS), a report on their proposed regulations, including its comprehensive summary of the potential costs and benefits, in an effort to further streamline their systems.
The ARTA undersecretary said the RIA trainings help break through the silo system that has long plagued the Philippine government and helps foster a more collaborative approach to providing public service.
“Under the law, no office should operate in silo, meaning all agencies should be aligned,” he said.
He also said that continuously improving public service through RIA trainings will not only remove the “undue burdens” placed on the public, but will lead to “more income and business opportunities for the country.”
Perez also discussed the country’s first-ever Philippine Good Regulatory Principles (PGRP), a set of guidelines and core principles on how to promote proportionate, consistent, accountable, and targeted regulations through effective dialogue between regulators and regulated entities.
Citing Derek Gill and Ponciano Intal Jr.’s “Classification of Countries According to RMS Stages,” Perez said the Philippines may graduate from the starter stage to the enabled stage by the end of the year given the number of reforms being implemented.
DAP President and CEO Atty. Engelbert Caronan, Jr., MNSA introduced the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) environment that has changed the playing field when it comes to instituting regulatory reforms.
“We need to cope in an increasingly disruptive environment,” he said. “The VUCA environment has caused so [many] challenges to regulators.”
However, this new challenging environment also presents the government with an opportunity to update policy processes, ways of thinking, and modernize regulation.
“It is appropriate to treat regulation as practice,” he said. “Regulating must be considered as a competency and not just a function.”
CenSEI President Ricardo Saludo expounded on the strategies that agencies can take to future-proof their reforms, which includes the use of strategic communication.
Saludo said agencies must have an answer protocol that will help them mobilize their base of support, fight a story with a better story, push for calm and factual regulation, get the facts straight, execute, evaluate, and enhance, among others.
He also said that before crafting a crisis communications plan, government agencies must have a risk management plan that considers their priorities for protection; risk reduction and management; environmental monitoring; provisions, personnel, and protocols; alertness and action; recalibration and recovery; and evaluation, enhancement, and error correction.
The webinar was attended by over a hundred participants from different priority and partner agencies in ARTA’s programs and RIA trainings.
The event was staged days after CenSEI offered to partner with the Authority to provide its expertise in streamlining processes. (ARTA) – jlo
