Anti-corruption agency eyes raps vs DTI chief
The Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) is considering filing administrative charges before the Office of the Ombudsman against Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez over the delay in the implementation of Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery law.
PACC Commissioner Manuelito Luna said the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) chief appeared to be “dilly-dallying” on the approval and issuance of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the law that took effect last June.
“There may be possible liability on the part of (Lopez) for simple misconduct or simple neglect of duty,” he told The STAR.
Luna explained that the PACC has received several complaints from traders on the delay of issuance of the IRR.
He said RA 11032 took effect last June 17 and President Duterte ordered its implementation within 30 days.
“(Lopez) did not follow this order of the President. We don’t buy his excuse that the IRR could still be issued after 90 days or until Oct. 22. Why exhaust the 90 days working on the IRR when you can do it in 30 or even 45 days?” the PACC official stressed.
“While we understand that the DTI needs to conduct consultations and address some complexities in the law, time is of the essence here. They should know that delays in processing of permits and documents in government create opportunities for corruption,” he pointed out.
Luna said they would consider filing an administrative case against Lopez should the DTI chief continue to delay the issuance of the IRR that is needed for implementation of RA 11032.
Under the new law, which amended RA 9485 (AntiRed Tape law of 2007), business processes will be streamlined and processing time in all government agencies, including local government units (LGUs) and government-owned and controlled corporations, will be reduced.
RA 11032 mandated government offices to comply with the “3-7-20” rule – completing simple transactions within three working days; seven for complex transactions and 20 for highly technical transactions.
A Business One Stop Shop shall also be established by LGUs to serve as a common location for securing business permits and licenses. A single online website may also be established for the same purpose, meant to centralize the receiving and processing of applications, receiving of payments, as well as the issuance of approved licenses, clearances, permits or other authorizations.
The law also mandated that barangay clearances and permits shall be applied for, issued and fees collected at the city or the municipal level. The LGUs shall remit the collections to the respective barangays.
The law also provides the creation of a Central Business Portal that will receive and capture application data of enterprises. The data will be directed to the Philippine Business Databank that will allow national government agencies and LGUs to access in- formation for verification. This initiative eliminates the submission of the same application data to various government offices.