One of Rodrigo Duterte’s charming qualities as president is that he hates red tape. Indeed, one distinctive quality in his nearly 23 years as mayor of Davao City is the ease with which businessmen can do business in Davao City. Walang red tape. Walang lagay.
I have yet to meet a businessman who was given a runaround or a raw deal by the Davao City government under a Duterte—the father and the daughter.
Rodrigo Duterte wants to institutionalize the no-red tape culture nationwide. This may explain why in two years, thousands of drug addicts and drug lords died with extreme prejudice in the hands of the police (more than 4,500 as of this writing). The police simply hate red tape, defined in legal circles as “due process.”
But what if the perpetrators of red tape are government bureaucrats? Well, you have to go through the legislative mill.
Happily, in June this year, Republic Act (RA) 11032, the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, was enacted. “We are confident that this legislation will bring forward further improvements in government services, as well as make doing business easier in the country,” said Trade and Industry Secretary Ramon Lopez in a speech.
In his State of the Nation Address on July 23, President Duterte gave the same prominence to the crime of red tape as stealing money from government. He said:
“While we run after those who steal the people’s money, we are also enhancing the government’s delivery of frontline services. I thank Congress for the swift passage of the Ease of Doing Business [Act], [applause] which is a significant fight against corruption and improving service delivery. We need to sustain our momentum. And I hereby direct all [local] government units—makinig sana kayo—and government agencies to faithfully implement this law and simply simplify the process. Hinihingi ko ho ‘yan sa lahat nasa gobyerno under my control and supervision. Huwag ho kayong magkamali.”
“I particularly call the attention of the agencies with the [most] number of red tape-related reports from the public, make your services truly customer-friendly. Our people deserve efficient, effective, and responsive government services. They deserve nothing less. [applause] Kayo lang ang ayaw eh. Gusto ng tao kayo ‘yung binabayaran, make your living from the pockets of the people, and you have a lousy and corrupt bureaucracy.”
At its monthly general meeting yesterday, the Management Association of the Philippines tackled the newly passed East of Doing Business Law. The guest speaker was Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Rowel S. Barba.
If you listened to Barba, you would have believed that it is now so easy to do business in the Philippines. You would get a business permit in seven days. The average at present: 28 days, assuming all documents are complete. The average in East Asia: 22.7 days. The average in OECD countries: 8.5 days. The best performer in the world: New Zealand, half a day.
The city studied by the World Bank for the Philippine ranking—Quezon City. Well, probably Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista probably thinks issuing a business permit is like running a movie or tv telenovela—it comes in many series and is on an extended run.
That speed ranks the Philippines No. 113th among 190 economies studied by the World Bank in ease of starting a business, which means the country is below average or an abject failure. Which means if you want to start a business here, you simply cannot start it, because of red tape.
Malaysia is supposed to be graft-prone. That is why Mahathir Mohammad ousted its prime minister and installed himself, by election of course. Yet, Malaysia ranks 24th and Thailand 25th. Indonesia, another graft-prone neighbor, ranks 72nd.
If red tape is all about graft, then the Philippines would be one of the most corrupt countries in Asean.
At the MAP meeting, I complained about the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is the oldest SEC in Asia. Its age shows. It takes from two months to six months to incorporate, which means your capital lies idle in a bank while the SEC takes its time registering your articles of incorporation. It takes SEC at least two weeks to release your certified true copy of articles of incorporation.
Why have things suddenly slowed down at the SEC? Well, they tried to computerize. Because they computerized, so many people started to do business with the SEC thinking things have improved.
Instead of improving, the system at SEC bogged down. So everyone has to have the patience while waiting for Godot. Thanks to SEC’s slowpoke computers and software that is full of errors.
I am sure SEC won’t learn about my complaint. Why? Because its system is not programmed to accept complaints. You cannot complain to god, can you?
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