Ending red tape
ONE of the most pernicious and crippling features that the rendering of public service suffers from is the generally recognized ailment of most governments in the planet, particularly in free and democratic government. This ailment is specifically called “red tape,” a kind of disease that affects the ability of government employees and workers to serve their offices' clientele.
The country's agency that is tasked to oversees the public service performance of our government's personnel is the Civil Service Commission (CSC). But while its effort to eliminate “red tape,' while reportedly “on the track,” is not really proceeding as much as indicated in the CSC's AntiRed Tape Act (ARTA) Report Card Survey made earlier on field offices of nine government agencies.
It seems that of the nine government agencies surveyed, some were found to have complied “with the basic requirements of Republic Act 9485, otherwise known as the “Act to improve efficiency in the delivery of government service by reducing bureaucratic red tape, preventing graft and corruption and providing penalties there for.” However, based on the report, four agencies of the nine failed in the survey but caught up later on.
The nine agencies surveyed were approached in two categories, according to the report. One was its compliance with the provisions of the CSC's ARTA, and the second is the overall client satisfaction that was determined through a questionnaire directed to clients of the agency or field office.
RA 9485 was enacted in 2007 yet to promote integrity, accountability, proper management of public affairs and property, and establish practices that prevent graft and corruption in the government. It is an apolitical law.
During the forum that was initiated the other day by the Association of Government Information Officers, it was noted by CSC 7‘s human resource specialist that it is really not easy to satisfy the agencies' clientele, but based on the CSC monitoring, there is now a big difference between the way government agencies deliver their services.
The problem of “red tape” has long been dogging the trail of government agencies in this country. Since the time I can remember--and I have once been in public service, too, for more than a couple of decades--there are quite a good number of motivations behind the rendering of public service by government workers and officials. Foremost of this is the pesky politics, which drives even the originally good civil servant to be ineffective.
In the words of the CSC human resource specialist, “One might ask how the lack of facilities or lack of directional signs in the office related to red tape.” But there are minuscule matters in the work place that contribute to what becomes the bigger problem of public service to a sensitive, highly politicized public.
The people in the past, indeed, were not so sensitive to red tape, as they are today. Our public now appears more sophisticated, and demanding of “hi-tech efficiency.”