Anti-red tape body files 66 cases in court

MANILA, Philippines — At least 66 criminal cases were slapped against government workers for offenses violating Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business Law, the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) said yesterday.

Eight of these cases resulted in convictions, five of which involved fixers within the Land Transportation Office (LTO), according to ARTA director general Sec. Ernesto Perez.

The fixers were from the LTO’s offices in Quezon City, Caloocan, Marikina and Manila.

Two other convictions were from the Bureau of Fire Protection and Philippine Statistics Authority while one is from the local government of Tunga, Leyte.

Forty-two other cases are undergoing hearing in courts while 16 have been dismissed.

The ARTA’s legal services and public assistance center has received up to 16,099 complaints and concerns. Of the number, 15,898 were resolved, a closure rate of 98.75 percent.

Perez said the other agencies where they receive complaints are the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Social Security System, but he clarified it is because the BIR and the SSS receive the most numbers of transactions.

While they want to hold inefficient government workers accountable, Perez said the challenge is convincing complainants to pursue cases.

He said some complainants are no longer interested to press charges once their issues are resolved.

Perez cited as an example a case wherein they were supposed to entrap what he described as a “big fish” but the complainant hesitated.