The Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) is giving state agencies until July 25 to submit their citizen’s charters that should now include new procedures adopted in consideration of the health crisis.
Under Memorandum Circular 2020-03-A, the Arta extended the deadline of submission of the updated citizen’s charter of government agencies from March 31 to July 25. It should be filed together with a compliance report on how the charter conforms with the provisions of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) law.
Likewise, the citizen’s charter should contain all of the new services introduced and processes implemented in light of the state of public health emergency declared throughout the country.
State agencies are tasked to submit these new procedures 20 working days from the issuance of the circular dated June 11. If requested, citizen’s charter briefings will be carried out by way of digital platforms in compliance with social distancing rules in place.
A citizen’s charter lists down the step by step procedure for availing a particular service, names the person responsible for each stage, the documents needed to be submitted and the fees to be paid, should there be any.
It must be printed in an information billboard and posted at the most conspicuous area of the office, such as the main entrance. Originally, citizen’s charters were scheduled for submission on March 31, but the whole of Luzon was placed under lockdown on March 17; hence, the push in the deadline.
The memorandum also reminded government agencies to abide by the prescribed processing times stipulated under the EODB law.
The law requires simple transactions to be completed within three days, complex transactions within seven days and highly technical transactions within 20 days. Failure to do so constitutes a violation of the code.
If an area is placed under enhanced community quarantine, the processing times stated in the citizen’s charter is suspended and adjustments should be made until the lockdown is lifted.
The memorandum also reiterated state agencies can request for an extension in the processing of documents should delay be inevitable on lack of sufficient manpower. However, they should inform the client ahead of time through a written notice in which the final date of release of the license, permit or service applied for must be indicated.
It should be received by the client within the prescribed processing time as well.
EODB compliance
The standardization of processing time is intended to eliminate red tape in the bureaucracy that turned off a lot of investors for so long. Overall, the implementation of the EODB law is banked on to improve the country’s rating in competitiveness surveys, particularly in the annual World Bank’s Doing Business report.
In the 2020 edition, the Philippines jumped 29 places to 95th among 190 economies on better scores in several indicators, namely, protecting minority investors, starting a business, dealing with construction permits and paying taxes.
In general, the country improved its score to 62.8, landing it in the 95th spot of the survey—the second time it got that ranking. Last year’s rating was 57.68 that pushed the Philippines down to 124th, from 113th in the 2018 cycle.
In spite of improvement in a number of indicators, the country lagged in terms of trading across borders, registering property, getting credit, enforcing contracts and starting a business.