Govt agencies urged to view citizens as customers, not taxpayers
THE Regional Development Council-Davao Region (RDC-Davao) said there is a need to improve government agencies’ citizens’ charters.
“We are proposing to i-review pod nang mga citizen’s charter (review government offices’ citizens’ charter) to make it very easy na kung pwede (so that) government processes will be simplified,” RDC-Davao co-chairperson Arturo Milan said during the Wednesday’s Habi at Kape media forum on May 31.
A Citizens’ Charter refers to a document that outlines the services and commitments of government agencies toward their constituents, designed to improve transparency, accountability, and efficiency in public service delivery.
Under Arta Law, it mandates all government offices to create a Citizen’s Charter as part of the efforts to reduce bureaucracy and promote efficient public service delivery while eliminating corruption at various levels within an organization.
The official said document resubmissions should not require additional audits or validations if the requirements are already satisfied as stated in Arta Law. Document and permit approvals must also be issued promptly.
Once the permit is released, it should only be subject to changes if there are violations or fraudulent activities involved.
With this, government employees must also shift a mindset towards viewing applicants and citizens in giving services “as customers rather than just taxpayers”.
“What I can suggest to Civil Service [Commission or CSC] is, mindset setting man ning pag-deliver og (it’s all about the mindset in delivering) efficient service especially coming from the government,” Milan said.
“That [mindset] has to change from a taxpayer mindset to a customer mindset,” he added.
By shifting towards treating applicants of government services with a “customer mindset”, government employees will also see the “benefit of giving excellent service as a revenue to a city”.
He added that in comparison, a taxpayer’s mindset would seem to burden the applicant’s responsibility to file their necessary documents.
“Ang nakalain man gud kung taxpayer ang mindset, bahala nag maghuwat ka dira og pila ka oras, 24 oras ba o unsa, kay imo man nang obligasyon as a taxpayer, dili na obligasyon sa syudad or sa empleyado [sa agency] (If a government office adapts a taxpayer mindset, they will think it’s the applicants’ obligation to wait for however many hours, even 24 hours if necessary, because it is a taxpayer’s duty and not the city’s or agency employee’s responsibility),” Milan said.
Meanwhile, Civil Service Commission - Davao Region (CSCDavao) Regional Director Cyril-Nathan SM. Eamiguel said should local government units wish to seek intervention from their office, they can approach CSC and request human resource (HR) development training or other interventions concerning HR. (Read full story on sunstar.com.ph/davao)