THE Makati Business Club (MBC) said that the Anti-red Tape Authority (ARTA) needs to create a private sector advisory council to help guide its ease of doing business initiatives, akin to the Private Sector Advisory Council (PSAC) organized by the national government.
“ARTA can set up a group from the private sector that can actually provide input to ARTA,” said MBC Chairman Edgar O. Chua told reporters last week.
“It could be like what the government has done with the PSAC. They set up PSAC to provide advice to the government to know which sectors should be focused on, although that is more geared for investment and some policies also,” he added.
He said the council will help ARTA improve the process of doing business, which he said needs more streamlining and standardization.
“On the top of the list is to simplify all the requirements both at the national and local level, because most of the problems are at the local level,” Mr. Chua said.
He said that the requirements differ in each province, municipality and even barangay.
“So even if I was able to get a permit from the national level, if I go to the site where I will put up the project, I will be asked for many permits and that process should be simplified,” he said.
Asked on the success of ease of doing business efforts, he said: “It’s not successful yet because it is not going to happen overnight. It covers a lot of things. And the problem is each municipality, even each barangay, is a kingdom in itself.”
“We have not standardized the requirements all over, that is why when you go to a barangay in a different province, they will have different requirements. So, we should standardize and simplify,” he added.
Separately, ARTA on Sunday urged the public to participate in the Report Card Survey (RCS) 2.0 which is set to enter the first phase of implementation from the third week of November to March 2024.
“ARTA strongly encourages the public to let their voice be heard by answering this survey. Their feedback is very important to us, and we need everyone’s cooperation as we strive to improve the ease of doing business in the country,” said ARTA Secretary Ernesto V. Perez in a statement.
RCS 2.0 evaluates the service delivery of government offices nationwide through feedback from the transacting public regarding the agencies’ adherence to the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
The first phase will ask selected clients of the 860 covered government agencies around 40 questions to gauge their satisfaction.
A survey questionnaire which can be accomplished on-site or by phone interview and inspection checklist will also be conducted and accomplished by ARTA’s third-party survey contractor Philippine Dynamics, Inc. (PDI) with pre-identified agencies on unannounced dates and times.
Before the end of the year, PDI targets surveying 215 agencies, while the remaining agencies will be finished by March 2024. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
