THE Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) will work with other government agencies to introduce an Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) tracking system to monitor how the Philippines stacks up against World Bank standards for streamlining red tape.
During the virtual signing on Monday, ARTA Director-General Jeremiah B. Belgica signed a joint memorandum circular with the Departments of Trade and Industry (DTI), Interior and Local Government (DILG), Finance (DoF), Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Budget and Management (DBM), the Office of the Presidential Adviser on Streamlining of Government Processes, the Development Academy of the Philippines, and the National Economic and Development Authority.
ARTA Deputy Director General Ernesto V. Perez said the reporting system seeks to measure the quality of regulatory practices that affect EoDB and the business climate.
According to Mr. Perez, the EoDB tracking system will measure government process according to the norms set in the World Bank study.
“For its pilot implementation, the Philippine EoDB Reporting System will initially generate a baseline measurement based on ARTA’s estimates of the indicators measured by the Doing Business Report using the World Bank Doing Business scoring system, methodology and assumptions refocused to the Philippine setting,” Mr. Perez said.
Mr. Perez said the reporting system will be pilot-tested in Parañaque City, Pasig City, Pasay City, Valenzuela City, and other highly urbanized areas outside Metro Manila.
“It will affect our countrymen in a positive way. They will be assured that even with the suspension by the World Bank of its annual Doing Business report, the Philippines will continue it with the sole purpose of continuing not only the initiatives we started with the World Bank, but having our own localized version,” Mr. Perez said.
“It will assure our people as required by the EoDB law (Republic Act No. 11032) that when they deal with government agencies… they will be assured that the processes are streamlined at reduced number of documentary requirements and reduced number of steps for shorter processing time,” he added.
The Philippines ranked 95th out of 190 economies, according to the World Bank Doing Business Report 2020. The World Bank Group announced last year that it will discontinue the report as a result of irregularities in the 2018 and 2020 editions. — Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
