99% of government offices pass anti-red tape test

MANILA, Philippines - Efforts to improve the delivery of frontline services in government are yielding results as 99 percent of agencies subjected to the 2015 Anti-Red Tape Act Report Card Survey (RCS) passed the test, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) announced yesterday.

Only 15 out of 1,114 government offices failed the test and were subsequently given service improvement orientation and workshops under the Service Delivery Excellence Program.

The CSC said offices that initially failed the test received passing marks when it conducted a second round of RCS.

It said 697 out of 1,114 government service offices obtained a “good” rating in terms of compliance with the ARTA provisions and overall quality of frontline service delivery.

A total of 353 offices received an “excellent” rating, six were “outstanding” and 43 were “acceptable.”

The 2015 RCS was conducted in nine government agencies with frontline service transactions based on the reports lodged by the public through the Contact Center ng Bayan, a call center facility managed by the CSC.

The agencies covered by the survey include the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Home Development Mutual Fund or Pag-IBIG Fund, Land Registration Authority, Land Transportation Office, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), Professional Regulation Commission, Philippine Statistics Authority-National Statistics Office and the Social Security System.

Forty-six first class cities nationwide and 51 branches of the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) were included in the survey.

The CSC released the survey results during the opening ceremony of the ARTA Caravan yesterday at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City.

CSC chairman Alicia de la Rosa-Bala said the agency sees the survey results as an achievement and a challenge.

Among the 10 government agencies surveyed, the GSIS, LBP, PhilHealth and SSS received a full passing rate, with all offices obtaining scores not lower than 70.

The GSIS had the highest score at 80 percent or 46 out of 57 offices, followed by PhilHealth at 66 percent or 88 out of 133 offices.

Of the 46 first class cities, 11 percent obtained excellent rating, 78 percent were good, nine percent were acceptable and two percent got a failed mark.

The city government of Taguig received the highest excellent rating among the local government units, with a score of 92.31 percent. Other LGUs with excellent rating were the cities of Batangas and Santiago in Isabela, Sta. Rosa in Laguna and Olongapo City.