NTC gets high rating

The Civil Service Commission (CSC) has given an “excellent” rating to the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) in terms of delivering frontline services, cutting red tape and fighting graft and corruption in its Metro Manila office.

Based on the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA)-Report Card Survey by the CSC-National Capital Region (NCR) of interviewed clients and the filed inspection checklist, NTC’s NCR office garnered a final numerical rating of 92.71 percent, which is equivalent to a descriptive rating of “Excellent” under the standard rating for the law creating the Citizen’s Charter (CC) to improve the delivery of public services and weed out graft in Government.

NTC’s Metro Manila office garnered a remarkable rating of 94.64 percent in the core area of ARTA compliance, even obtaining a perfect score  in the sub-topic of anti-fixer campaign.

This is because all survey respondents said that none of them was approached by a “fixer” or paid an amount in excess of the CC-set fees, and that all of them saw the anti-fixer posters on the premises and found the Public Assistance/Complaints Desk (PACD) manned by “knowledgeable” personnel.  

OIC Delilah Deles heads the NTC-NCR office.

Likewise, all respondents mentioned having seen the PACD manned by knowledgeable personnel, and all the frontline service providers wearing easy-to-read IDs.

All of the respondents claimed to have received official receipts for their payments, paid only the amounts posted in the CC, and saw the frontline service providers observing the “No Lunch Break” policy, hence enabling the NTC to garner a perfect rating in these sub-areas.

The CSC had performed the survey by inspecting the NCR service office and interviewing clients within the premises immediately after they had availed of the following frontline services: Application for Radio Operator Certification, and Fixed and Land Mobile Service. 

This mode was chosen by the CSC to ensure that all questions were answered and vague responses were clarified at the outset.

The survey examined the service office’s compliance with the ARTA provisions and the overall satisfaction of its clients, in order to obtain feedback on how the service office follows in its CC, obtain information/estimates of hidden costs incurred by clients in accessing frontline service and rate service office performance and client satisfaction in relation to frontline service delivery.

On compliance with the posted standards, all the respondents claimed that the service office complied with the posted standards, except for the procedures of filing a complaints and feedback mechanism, as none of the respondents had felt the need to file any complaint against the NTC.

On the core area of Overall Client Satisfaction, the office obtained a high rating of 91.01 percent with passing grades in all five  sub-areas.

The highest rating was on Basic Facilities at 92.7 percent followed by Physical Setup/Layout at 91.81 percent Frontline Service Provider at 91.25 percent, Respondent-Client Satisfaction at 90.67 percent, and Service Quality at 89.76 percent

As to client satisfaction with the frontline service providers and service quality of the office, all the respondents were either satisfied or very satisfied as no one was dissatisfied with the services provided by the office.

With regard to the physical setup/layout and basic facilities of the office, all the respondents were satisfied or very satisfied with the ventilation, lightning and basic facilities provided by the office.

The office provides a special lane for the elderly, PWDs and pregnant women.

Some of the respondents suggested the expansion of the waiting area, but  this will be addressed soon by the NTC-NCR with the current construction of its new building in the same Quezon City compound.

Is he, isn’t he?

 For someone who aspires to become president of this country, Interior Secretary Mar Roxas’s accomplishments are paltry.

As the Aquino administration’s first Transportation and Communications Secretary, he failed to bid out any of the big-ticket infrastructure projects that would have upgraded our airports and improved mass transportation. As Interior and Local Governments Secretary, his performance, or rather non-performance. is even more glaring.

One year after Super Typhoon Yolanda hit Tacloban City, the  tell-tale signs of utter devastation and ruined lives are still well in evidence.       

It is instructive to recall what Roxas told the Tacloban City mayor then.  He asked Mayor Romualdez to resign so that he could take over the relief and rehabilitation efforts. When Romualdez, who is identified with the political opposition, refused to back down, Roxas made himself scarce in the storm-affected areas even as local officials begged the national government and the DILG to help them recover from the tragedy.

There was an outpouring of local and international support for the victims of the disaster. Yet, it is only now that an integrated plan for rebuilding Yolanda-devastated areas has been approved by the Cabinet.  Roxas, who should be taking an active role in this humanitarian effort, appears to be very busy preparing  for his candidacy in 2016, thus leaving  the victims  to their own devices.

If the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) is to be believed, Roxas is spending more time  masterminding the demolition job against Vice President Jojo Binay, instead of doing his job.

The DILG under Roxas should be strengthening local governments throughout the country to make them capable of fast-tracking their own socio-economic development. Instead of doing this, Roxas seems to be gearing up his department towards partisan politics, particularly in pushing his political agenda in 2016.

UNA claims that DILG funds are being used in the rural areas for radio commercials aired under the guise of “time checks” but are actually early campaign propaganda for Roxas. The claim is not farfetched as 2016 is not far in the horizon and Roxas must play catch-up to Binay who is still the frontrunner.

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