There is renewed drive against red tape, the nth time since the last millennium, and President Arroyo has ordered all government offices and agencies to "campaign against fixers" and make it easier for the public to complain about such shenanigans in government offices.
 
"There is a need to expedite the implementation of the provisions of the Anti Red Tape Act or RA 9485 for the effective realization of the State's policy of work to fix the corruption that has, unfortunately, long plagued our nation," stated Mrs. Arroyo in Administrative Order 241 that is reinvigorating the drive to cut red tape.
 
The anti-red tape law requires all government offices to set up "Citizens' Charter" within a year after its effectivity that is aimed at eliminating "fixing activity in their place of work and commence legal proceedings against fixers such as the filing and prosecution of criminal and/or administrative cases not later than March 31, 2009."
 
It also provides for the establishment of readily available public assistance and complaints desks in all government agencies and offices, and a public hotline number for customer feedback by December 31, 2009.
 
"All agencies shall develop a scheme within its office to ensure that the public assistance desk/complaints desk shall be attended to at all times and the hotline number shall be accessible to the public," said AO 241.
 
Trade Secretary Peter Favila, who heads the Anti-Red Tape Task Force, said before the weekend that AO 241 would ensure that government offices are ready to receive clients even during lunch break. "With this AO, there are no lunch breaks. Somebody has to be around because sometimes, some people arrive in agencies without anyone to attend to them because they are on their lunch break."
 
Favila said AO 241 is intended to strengthen the implementation of RA 9485 and is expected to assure the business sector that government "will deliver on what the private sector feels government ought to do. . .And once we are able to do that, perhaps it will not be difficult for business to pay their taxes properly."
 
He has submitted to the President a list of notorious red tape-bound agencies identified by the private sector through the National Competitiveness Council.
 
Agencies identified for priority anti-red tape measures are the Bureau of Customs, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Food and Drugs, Bureau of Immigration, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Laguna Lake Development Authority, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Social Security System, and the Government Service Insurance System. - BusinessMirror