The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) called on other government agencies to activate their social media accounts and use them to strengthen their online complaints handling.
Secretary Jeremiah Belgica, ARTA Director General, said this as the public is shifting to more accessible digital channels to file their complaints.
“This is important because nakikita po natin ngayon kung gaano ka-importante ang automation sa complaints system, lalo na sa pagiging social media-friendly at accessible nito sa publiko,” he said.
The ARTA chief has also been using his personal Twitter account to respond to complaints and call the attention of government agencies.
ARTA, through the initiative of the Office of the Deputy Director General for Legal led by Undersecretary Eduardo Bringas, and in collaboration with the University of the Philippines Public Administration Research and Extension Services Foundation, Inc.-Regulatory Support Program for National Development (UPPAF-RESPOND), will soon be launching two digital platforms that will boost the agency’s capacity in complaints handling.
These are the ARTA Dashboard and the ARTA Citizen Services Mobile Application.
The ARTA Dashboard will provide a glimpse of the agency’s operations and will serve as a mechanism to monitor the progress of priority activities.
Meanwhile, the ARTA Citizen Services Mobile Application will be an innovative platform that will complement the other ways to file a complaint before the Authority, which are physically submitting or filing at ARTA’s office, through its website, through email, and through a letter of complaint.
The Ease of Doing Business and Anti-Red Tape (EODB-ART) Advisory Council endorsed the two Information Technology (IT) initiatives, along with the recently launched Anti-Red Tape Electronic Management Information System (ARTEMIS) and the Philippine Business Regulations Information System (PBRIS), in its 15th council meeting on Monday.
ARTA employees will be trained on operating and maintaining the ARTA Dashboard and ARTA Citizen Services Mobile Application.
“These are projected to give ARTA more of a national presence online,” Belgica said.
The Anti-Red Tape Secretary said the two online platforms will also strengthen the Authority’s New Rules of Procedure (ROP) for Handling Online Complaints.
The New ROP is in line with Belgica’s vision for ARTA to be the first paperless agency. It is also in line with the zero-contact policy and to ensure social distancing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
With the old ROP, complaints must have complete documents before being sent to handling lawyers, but with the new ROP, the application will prompt the complainant to complete their requirements.
Previously, ARTA would also take several months to handle cases due to the limited number of staff. But with the new ROP, cases should only take 47 days for the completion of the required submissions of both parties, including hearings; and 20 days to resolve.
Back then, complaints handling was geared toward ARTA’s enforcement function, but now, the agency is leaning toward their empowerment function and adopting a whole-of-government approach in handling complaints.
Retroactive application will now also be implemented when it comes to cases because Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 is a curative measure, except for criminal cases.
ARTA is also now gradually doing away from handling complaints manually as 60-percent of it is now done online.
The agency also scrapped the Affidavit of Completeness requirement for Automatic Approval applications. (ARTA) -rir
