Bureaucratic inefficiency still prevails
Doing business in the Philippines has generally been recognized for years as a strenuous activity akin to going to war, with successful newbies emerging battle-scarred, and the veterans too callous to even raise a squeak about bureaucratic red tape and ineptitude, and all forms of corruption.
Despite all the noise about how poorly the country has been performing with regards ease of doing business as compared to other countries in the World Bank annual survey, not much has actually been done. We were thankful that our rank in the world had somehow improved during the past years, but the recent the 2018 World BankInternational Finance Corporation Doing Business Report indicated the Philippines once again slipped, and slipped big, in ranking, from 99 to 113 among 190 economies.
In 10 indicators that were used to measure business processes that required government intervention, that of starting a business ranked worst (173rd), followed by enforcing contracts (149th), protecting minority investors (146th) and getting credit (142nd).
The other indicators and their rankings in the survey are: registering property (114th), paying taxes (105th), dealing with construction permits (101th), trading across borders (99th), resolving insolvency (59th) and getting electricity (34th).
Our slow pace in reforms is best demonstrated by how quickly our partners in ASEAN have risen in ranking in their respective categories over the last few years, a testament to the fact that if there is a will to improve things, change for the better will happen.
For example, when businesses complained before about how laborious it was to get an electricity connection, stakeholders involved developed and implemented a new asset management system and created a new scheduling and planning office.
On complaints about how difficult it was to pay taxes, reforms were largely in the form of installing new electronic systems for payment at both the national and local government levels. The need to efficiently collect taxes helped immensely in bringing government into the digital era.
But more can be done if only hearts and minds in government were committed to support business growth. And so, it was a pleasant surprise when I learned that the lower house of Congress passed on final reading a bill that would uniformly ease business processes involving the government.
The bill is still a long way from being passed as a law, but the proposed measures seem to be realistic and effective. We anxiously await this bill’s maturation through the different hallways of Congress and the executive branch.
Clear deliverables
House Bill 6579, which seeks to establish a national policy to assist the pace of doing business in the Philippines, scores a big point when it prescribes that the processing time for approvals should be only one day at the barangay level, and between three to 10 days at the national agencies and local governments.
When it comes to making laws and regulations, there is no better way to ensure successful implementation than stating clear and firm deliverables. While there may be gray areas, such loopholes may be reasonably dealt with, as for example, in the case of complicated permits or licenses by prescribing a maximum period for processing.
The best part in the bill are the penalties to be imposed on the delinquent government official: a suspension for 30 days without pay for the first offense, suspension for three months without pay for the second violation, and dismissal, perpetual disqualification from public office and forfeiture of benefits for the third offense.
A peep into those behind the bill could provide a reason as to its contents. HB 6579 was consolidated from seven bills authored by Luis Raymund Villafuerte of Camarines Sur, Arthur Yap of Bohol, Gus Tambunting of Parañaque, Manuel Zubiri of Bukidnon, Ferjenel Biron of Iloilo, Winston Castelo of Quezon City and Vilma Santos-Recto of Batangas.
Most, if not all of them, have substantial exposure in how businesses operate, and have individually demonstrated their commitment to improve government service at all levels.
One of the prescriptions in the bill, which has always helped improve any process, is the display of the list of requirements and detailed step-by-step procedures in securing any of the required permits, licenses and clearances in the concerned offices and their websites.
I remember how this had helped improved vehicle registration and license renewals at Land Transportation branches.
The computerization of drivers’ licenses and car registrations also helped immensely, but I think, streamlined operations reflected on the big procedural boards push concerned government officials to deliver better services.
Enlightened citizens
It’s amusing to imagine seeing enlightened citizens waving info flyers stipulating penalties for delays, and demanding for the prompt processing of their required documents. There’s no better impetus for change than being confronted by angry and demanding taxpayers.
There is, perhaps, hope for us to experience impeccable service from people whose salaries and benefits come from taxes taken from our hard-earned earnings. Let’s hope that the Senate will come up with improvements in the final version of the bill, and will put more effort in helping pass the law soon.
Since we mentioned the LTO earlier, when can we see the new plates to be issued to all vehicles? This also applies to vehicle stickers that we pay for, but actually never get. Having make-do plates on new cars that have been on the road for years is a security issue.
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