LAST week, 12 government offices entered into a memorandum of agreement to simplify the process of doing business in the country.
The signatories to the agreement are, among others, the Department of Trade and Industry, Securities and Exchange Commission, Bureau of Internal Revenue and Social Security System.
They agreed to institute changes in their administrative procedures to speed up the registration of corporations and the enrollment of employees in SSS, Philhealth and Pag-Ibig Fund.
The objective in the incorporation of new businesses is to do it in six steps and eight days, as against the 16 steps and 34 days it usually takes at present.
The new procedures would be initially implemented in the National Capital Region and later gradually applied to the rest of the country.
The agreement is aimed at improving the country’s ranking in the international surveys on ease of doing business in the world’s economies.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report last year, the Philippines ranked 52 out of 144 economies surveyed.
The government’s objective is to be in the top third quartile ranking in competitiveness by 2016.
Response
If the envisioned reforms are implemented according to plan, there is a strong possibility that goal can be met and even surpassed.
Although gaining international recognition for ease of doing business is laudable, what’s more important are the benefits that improved business processes would bring to Filipino businessmen, in particular, and to the economy, in general.
After all, what matters most in governance is the promotion of the people’s wellbeing; the international accolade that may come as a result of the reforms would only be icing on the cake.
This is not the first time government offices tasked with the development of our economy have collectively agreed in writing to implement the measures subject of last week’s agreement.
In the past, every time global surveys showed the Philippines faring poorly in the area of ease of doing business, the administration in power would announce it would take appropriate steps to improve that standing.
The routine reaction of the government to unfavorable assessments of the business environment often elicited ho-hum (“here we go again”) reaction from the local business community.
From the reports though, it looks that this time the government is serious in reducing the bureaucratic red tape that discourages Filipino entrepreneurs from engaging in meaningful business activities.
Implementation
The results sought to be achieved by the agreement appear to be time bound and measurable in concrete terms.
If the underlying assumptions of the agreement are valid or realistic, the targets are capable of timely accomplishment.
But entering into an agreement is one thing, implementing it properly is another. Words do not automatically translate into action.
To paraphrase a popular business mantra, the devil is in the details on how to live up to the promise of prompt and satisfactory processing of business applications.
With the agreement signed and sealed, the lower level staffs of the government offices concerned will now take on the task of ensuring its effective implementation.
It is they who will do the nitty-gritty of processing, reviewing and evaluating the documents filed for the registration and operation of new businesses.
It is not enough to give instructions about the agreement, or order the employees to implement it under pain of disciplinary action.
They should be inspired to claim “ownership” over the project, i.e., believe that they have a personal stake in its accomplishment without expecting additional remuneration.
Without their enthusiastic cooperation, the agreement will go the way of similar failed exercises in the past.
Facilities
The next question to be addressed in the implementation of the agreement is: Do the participating offices have the facilities and personnel needed to meet the time-bound performance targets?
The agreement looks to computer technology as one of the means to expedite the processing of documents.
Thus, for example, the payment of the premium of 11 or more employees to Philhealth and Pagibig Fund can be made online.
As things stand at present, some of the offices included in the proposed speedy business processing loop already suffer from shortage of personnel or inadequate computer facilities, or both.
Strict hiring and procurement regulations have prevented these offices from promptly increasing their work force or updating their IT infrastructure whenever the need arises.
In the process, the quality of their services has suffered and continues to suffer.
It is a bane that many government offices often find themselves in. Congress or the president assigns additional work to them without making provisions for funds to employ the staff or facilities needed to perform the extra work load.
It is unfair to expect or demand of the offices tasked to make it easy to do business in our country to deliver on their promises without providing them with the tools or facilities essential to the accomplishment of that objective.
Let’s keep our fingers crossed this project succeeds. Not because it would upgrade the country’s standing in international surveys, but because it is something that should have been done a long time ago.
For comments, please send your e-mail to rpalabrica@inquirer.com.ph.