War vs Red Tape

Thursday, 09 September 2010 00:00

Written by Ma. Gladys Sta. Rita

For government to run effectively and fulfill its mandate, it has to run smoothly like a well-tuned engine – free from the unnecessary procedures and transactions we have come to know as “bureaucratic red tape”.

Red tape complicates the very basic science and “geometry” of good governance. This is because good governance, much like basic geometric formulae, is all about shortening the distance between two points: that of public service and the public it intends to serve.

If the recent hostage carnage, where the allegedly slow Ombudsman response was bewailed, is not proof enough of this deadly lingering malaise, the country has yet to redeem itself as the 3rd most red tape-infested country in Asia (following India and Indonesia by a slim margin), according to the June 2010 report of the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) group.

More specifically, the report cited how the Philippine bureaucracy is “going through the motion of combating red tape, but, really, nothing is happening”.

The Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, notwithstanding, some local governments are still having a difficult time cutting through procedures that have been with them since time immemorial. The law calls for no less than a departure from what has been considered “standard procedure”, because standard has become irrelevant, non-responsive to new needs, and prone to fixing.

I was one of the speakers in a training program for governors and mayors, organized recently by the National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) of the University of the Philippines. My topic was "Implementing the Anti- Red Tape Law (RA 9845) and LGU Experience in Streamlining Local Government Service Delivery Systems". The occasion gave me the opportunity to emphasize on these points.

There is a need to instill among our public servants, officials or ordinary rank-and-file employee, an awareness that the Anti-Red Tape Law can potentially end their careers, with strict and exacting implementing guidelines aimed at ending the phenomenon of red tape in government.

Republic Act No. 9845 of 2007 is relatively new. Its implementing guidelines had just been finalized last year. At the helm of its implementation is the Civil Service Commission, and backed up by the Development Academy of the Philippines, the Ombudsman, and the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC).

The law ensures maximum public access to the most basic information on the services they are seeking. This is through the mandatory posting of the Citizens’ Charter which identifies in bold, conspicuous letters the frontline service offered, the step-by-step procedures, the employee responsible for each step, the amount of fees, required documents and filing procedures, among other relevant information.

Apart from cutting down on the number of approving signatures to a maximum of five, the law also shaves off the 15-day window for processing of papers down to 10 days. Here’s the best part: If the government office fails to act within the prescribed period, particularly on license or permit renewals, the document is automatically renewed.

The law also mandates the creation of mechanisms to realize and manifest in the act of public service delivery, the values of honesty, responsibility, transparency and speed in action. Under the law, speed of transaction means clear written approval or disapproval of an application or a request submitted by the public client. The keyword here is “simplification” of procedures and transactions.

It cuts the grade by defining “irrelevance” in public service delivery as “any document or performance of an act not directly material to the resolution of the issues raised in the request or needed in the application submitted by the client”. No more running around in circles just to get what we need from the public office.

The biggest and perhaps the most notable contribution of the Law to the crusade against red tape is its clear-cut identification of the perpetuator of the system – the fixer. It defines the culprit as “anyone whether or not officially involved in government operations who has access to people working in the agency, and whether or not in collusion with them, facilitates speedy completion of transactions”. Fixing now has a face. It is a crime with definite, costly consequences for the guilty and his league.

It is every Filipino’s hope that the days of red tape-infested government would finally end. Now there is a law with sharp enough teeth to chew red tape away.

We know for a fact that red tape feeds graft and corruption because it provides the perfect environment for fixing and cheating to thrive. In the end, red tape goes against the very best interest of our country and is a burdensome weight on every Filipino’s back. If only for this, the war against red tape should be waged with greater fervor at the local governments.