Offices in the national government as well as those in local government units must continually upgrade their management standards, skills and performance if the country will extricate itself from its bottom-third ranking in global competitiveness.
It is high time that government offices adopted and applied quality management systems that will monitor and evaluate their performance strictly and with a view to delivering speedy quality services.

These points were raised by National Competitiveness Council (NCC) Private Sector Co-Chair Ambassador Cesar B. Bautista during a joint Corporate Social Responsibility meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club and the League of Corporate Foundations.

"The NCC will push for the implementation of quality management systems, including ISO 9001 in national government offices whose performance impacts on the competitiveness of our productive enterprises," Bautista said.

Three government offices are targeted to be ISO-certified by private certifying agencies this year. Bautista said that plans are being mapped out to create a PPP team to provide these certifications.

World-class management systems will enable our government to minimize red tape, for instance, speed up registration and processing of foreign and domestic investors' papers, and simplify the entry and exit of foreign business people, Bautista, who served as DTI Secretary for five years, said.

Bautista pointed out the example of a group of prospective investors from India whose visas were issued right at the port of entry as their visit was sponsored by a local chamber of commerce.

A parallel initiative is helping LGUs attain the status of model cities or municipalities, and the city development strategy adopted by the national league of city mayors.

"Modern management systems which apply strict measurement and evaluation standards, and which hold managers and officers accountable, are key to improving our competitiveness in all sectors,
Bautista said.

The NCC will also initiate cross-posting between senior public officials and private-sector managers to broaden their understanding of each other's sector even as they help move the progress of their host organization.

The NCC, co-chaired by DTI Secretary Peter Favila and Ambassador Bautista, was created by President Arroyo in October 2006 to draw up and implement a national agenda to enhance national competitiveness through better education, superior manpower, improved management systems, expanding the capability of the energy and transport sectors to respond to country's development needs, providing focused support for small and medium scale industries.