CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) inaugurated its Northern Mindanao Regional Field Office (RFO) on Thursday, June 22, ensuring that the concerns and grievances of the people in the region lodged through 8888 Citizens Complaints Center are properly addressed.
ARTA Director General Secretary Ernesto Perez (left), Misamis Oriental Gov. Peter Unabia (center), NFA Administrator Roderico Bioco (right), and other government and LGU officials, lead the ribbon-cutting ceremony during the inauguration of the ARTA-Northern Mindanao Regional Field Office on the third floor of the National Food Authority (NFA) compound in Sitio Baloy, Barangay Tablon, Cagayan de Oro City, on Thursday, June 22. (Franck Dick Rosete)
The office is located on the third floor of the National Food Authority (NFA) compound in Sitio Baloy, Barangay Tablon, this city.
Secretary Ernesto Perez, ARTA Director General, said the ARTA has coordinated with the Office of the President to ensure that LGUs and government offices are taking care of the 8888 complaints, being the agency that is tasked with implementing the national policy on ease of doing business and anti-red tape.
The ARTA will monitor the compliance of government agencies and will receive complaints, Perez said in a mix of English and Filipino in a press conference on Thursday.
On Feb. 22, this year, Perez and Strategic Action and Response Office Undersecretary Rogelio Peig II signed a memorandum of agreement to set up a mechanism to ensure prompt action and resolution of government offices on the public's complaints or concerns lodged through 8888 CCC.
The 8888 CCC tapped ARTA in order to enforce mandatory compliance with the 72-hour turnaround time – a timeframe provided for LGUs and government agencies to respond or provide an explanation to public complaints and concerns.
To ensure that the said turnaround time will be followed, the ARTA required all agencies, LGUs, and institutions under the government to submit their Citizen’s Charter – an information billboard that contains pertinent information on the services offered in government offices. This includes the requirements, processing time, and costs for each service.
It will then be monitored by ARTA through compliance monitoring and evaluation since the Citizen’s Charter must be placed on their respective websites and offices, which is mandated by Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
Apart from that, the ARTA will also conduct regular inspections to monitor the compliance of the LGUs and government agencies and institutions with their Citizen’s Charters, the electronic business one-stop shop (eBOSS), and other campaigns. These offices will then be given seven days to address the results of the inspection.
"Since we have a regional field office here, we can easily cover the LGUs here in Northern Mindanao," said Perez.
ARTA-Northern Mindanao Regional Field Office chief Jutchel Nayra (left), Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. President Reymundo Talimio Jr. (second from left), Cagayan de Oro City Administrator Roy Hilario Raagas (center), ARTA Director General Secretary Ernesto Perez (second from right), and Misamis Oriental Gov. Peter Unabia (right) answer questions from the media during the ARTA Northern Mindanao Regional Field Office inauguration on the third floor of the National Food Authority (NFA) compound in Sitio Baloy, Barangay Tablon, Cagayan de Oro City, on Thursday, June 22. (Franck Dick Rosete)
The ARTA also developed the Anti-Red Tape Electronic Management Information System (ARTEMIS), a web-based platform that provides a real-time and on-demand database and mapping of all government services indicated in the Citizen’s Charter. This platform is set to be implemented this year, Perez said.
It can be recalled that the city government of Cagayan de Oro had received a complaint through 8888 CCC from an LGU employee here, but the complaint pertained to the alleged salary delay, as confirmed by the City Legal Office (CLO) in an interview with the Manila Bulletin on May 11 this year.
The complaint had gone viral since it was posted by a news media outlet in this city.
However, CLO representative Antonio Resma Jr. said since the institutionalization of the Payroll Management Feedback System (PMFS) on May 15 – four days after the interview – the city government has not received any complaints regarding delayed salaries.
Cagayan de Oro has been chosen to be the site of the regional field office of Northern Mindanao for being the center of the region. The ARTA here will also cover the Caraga region.
In the middle part of the event, the newly appointed officials and personnel of the Northern Mindanao RFO were introduced, with Jutchel Nayra being the regional chief.
Following the directive of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to streamline and digitalize all government transactions, ARTA aims to improve bureaucratic efficiency to further boost investments and economic development in all regions of the country.