President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has approved the creation of a single operating system for all government transactions to ensure ease of doing business in the country.
During a sectoral meeting on improving bureaucratic efficiency, President Marcos said different agencies working on a code or policy must consider the differences between the national bureaucracy and various local government units (LGUs).
“There are technological reasons, as well as political and local considerations to comply with the law and the government has to deal with those issues,” the President said.
“I think it may help when you’re writing the code or when you’re putting the system together, you’re going to have to think about the differences between the national bureaucracy and the different LGUs,” Mr. Marcos said.
“Those are the things that we still work with. The questions we were trying to bring it down to that level, and the local governments are really part of that thing. You’ve seen how it can happen. That’s what we need to address,” he pointed out.
Government officials who met the President also said that’s the reason why the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), are now mapping the processes of different agencies so they can be able to collate them in a single system.
They said LGUs are covered by the ease of doing business law, particularly under Section 11, which requires them to set up and traditionalize electronic business one-stop-shop, which will standardize LGU requirements.
The President also directed the DICT and ARTA to assist LGUs in adopting the Business Permits and Licensing Systems in All Cities and Municipalities (BPLS) system.
The officials also said that they have conducted stakeholder consultations involving all government agencies to look at their processes and requirements with the aim of encouraging them to use a unified application form, linking them to the network that sets up a “one-stop-shop.”
The proposal, they said, is to broaden the coverage to other types of business like what was done by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on the creation of a one-stop-shop for big-ticket investments.
Officials from those agencies said they are also looking at integrating all the processes for migrant workers, maritime, as well as shipping industries, as they noted the improvement and the processes by integrating all government processes through data sharing.
The best way to reduce requirements and processing time, they said, is for government agencies to adopt data sharing so that documents submitted in one agency should no longer be required in another agency.
To ensure the strengthened implementation of streamlining and digitalization initiatives, ARTA is requesting the approval of the proposed revisions on Executive Order No. 482, series of 2005, to make it responsive to the current situation and the issuance of corresponding Administrative Orders and EOs.
And to ensure the administration’s efforts in streamlining and improving the efficiency of government services, the government, through the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) program, is carrying out TradeNet, Manual for the Reengineering of Business Permits and Licensing Systems in All Cities and Municipalities (BPLS Manual) and Streamlined Guidelines for the Issuance of Permits, Licenses, and Certificates for the Construction of Shared Passive Telecommunications Tower Infrastructure (PTTIs).
Among those who met with the President were DTI Secretary Alfredo Pascual, Interior and Local Government Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr., Information and Communications Technology Undersecretary David Almirol Jr., ARTA Director General Ernesto Perez and Customs Commissioner Bienvenido Rubio. Vince Lopez
