EFFORTS to cut red tape may run the risk of getting downgraded, as the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) approved just 15 percent of the funds requested by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) for next year.
The BusinessMirror learned from a highly placed source the Arta could end up operating next year with only P72 million, or a measly 14.39 percent of the P500 million it requested from the DBM.
As a result, the agency tasked to ensure the whole of government is compliant with the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) law is faced with the dilemma of reorganizing its programs and projects, and functioning with less than the required manpower.
According to the source, the Arta is currently operating with only 56 personnel, far from the 208 plantilla positions allocated by the DBM for the agency.
Also, everyone at the Arta is employed on a contractual basis, as the agency is still awaiting the release of its plantilla positions, the source said. Manpower is the lifeblood of the red tape regulator in carrying out its mandate, particularly in visiting government offices to evaluate their citizen’s charter and assess their service delivery.
“The Arta is mandated to ensure all government agencies are complying with the EODB law. We are tasked to evaluate citizen’s charters from the local to the national, and that is only one aspect of our duty. We really need a lot of manpower, and it requires significant expenditure,” the source said.
For one, the division assigned to examine the citizen’s charters of all government agencies is composed of just four people, the source disclosed. Further, the Arta has no official vehicle that it can use when conducting surprise visits to municipal halls.
A lower budget will also make it difficult for the agency to conduct its series of regulatory impact assessment workshops intended to enable local governments to identify bottlenecks in their permitting and licensing, streamline their processes and reengineer their systems.
“We are trying to get things done here and we hope to secure the budget that we need. Aside from our programs and projects aligned with the implementation of the law, we need capital for our services, trainings and office equipment,” the source said.
Most of the office equipment, including computers and even chairs, used by Arta officials and personnel are owned by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
As such, the source said Arta officials will convince legislators, particularly those involved in the crafting of the EODB law, to increase the allocation for the agency. The House Committee on Appropriations on Thursday started its marathon budget hearings with the goal of passing the General Appropriations Act by October 4 before the congressional recess.
‘Investment’
In his budget message transmitted to Congress on Tuesday, the President said P72 million of the proposed P4.1 trillion national budget for next year is earmarked for the Arta, wherein P19 million is provided for its programs and projects in enforcing the EODB law.
“To ensure that the objectives of this law will be fulfilled, we have established the Anti-Red Tape Authority to implement and oversee the national policy on anti-red tape and regulatory reform, as well as to institutionalize and carry out reforms that will improve our competitiveness ranking. An allocation of P72 million is earmarked for the Arta, wherein P19 million is provided for its Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Services Program,” the President said.
Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. President Sergio R. Ortiz-Luis Jr. called on lawmakers to inject additional funding for the Arta to provide it with the financial capacity to carry out its functions, especially in going after red tape ridden government agencies.
“Now that it [EODB law] is implemented, we should not consider it as an expense; we should consider it as an investment. How can everybody be investigated [by the Arta] with that kind of budget? That is a very small budget. It is like a budget that you really don’t want the agency to do its job or succeed in its mandate,” Ortiz-Luis said over the phone on Thursday.
He argued it is necessary for the government to invest a higher budget for the Arta to bolster the fight against corruption—including red tape—from which the Philippines loses an estimated P700 billion yearly, as claimed in a speech last week by Deputy Ombudsman Cyril E. Ramos.
George T. Barcelon, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the allocation is a start. What is important, he argued, is to “use the fund to inculcate government officials to reduce bureaucracy and corruption.
The Arta is the lead implementor of the EODB law, the measure that standardized processing time for government transactions, reduced the number of signatories in securing licenses and permits, placed penalties and sanctions on violators, among others.
These provisions of the law are aligned with the government’s objective of curbing red tape to improve the country’s ratings in competitiveness surveys and, consequently, portfolio to foreign investors. As of the latest review of the World Bank, the Philippines is ranked 124th among 190 economies in terms of ease of doing business.
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