ARTA urged to follow World Bank indicators on ease of doing business

The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) on Monday was urged to follow the World Bank’s (WB) indicators on the currently-halted ease of doing business (EODB) survey to improve government services in the Philippines.

At a Senate hearing, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian asked ARTA about its plans and programs to help pull the ranking of the Philippines up in the WB’s EODB survey, assuming that the study will continue in the near future.

In 2019, the Philippines ranked 95th out of 190 countries in the WB’s report on ease of doing business.

ARTA director-general Jeremiah Belgica said they were able to map out reform initiatives to enter at least the top 60 or 70 out of the 190 countries.

But he said ARTA is focusing in achieving higher points than seeking a higher place in the WB’s ranking for EODB.

“Ang target ho sana natin is umabot tayo ng at least 75 percent ng score sa EODB score... Sabi nga, sir, kahit sa school kahit maka-75 ka. We are at 62 when we started which is an improvement from 57, pagpasok po ng ARTA,” he said.

(Our target is to reach 75 percent of the EODB score. Like in schools, we need 75 percent to pass. We are at 62 percent when we started which is an improvement from 57 percent before ARTA was established.)

He also told the senators that ARTA is seeking to improve the EODB in the country beyond the indicators set by WB as its scope is “limited.”

Although they have action plans on the 11 indicators provided by the WB survey, Belgica said they also incorporated programs that will improve EODB in the country based on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) metrics.

Among the initiatives ARTA is pursuing are the Central Business Portal which seeks to improve the starting a business indicator, the National Single Window project which seeks to connect 73 trade regulatory agencies in one platform, and the streamlining of construction permits.

Apart from these, ARTA also intends to “localize” the EODB ranking among national government agencies and local government units to determine which are the top performing cities and departments.

Despite ARTA’s initiatives, Gatchalian advised the officials to stick with the WB’s standards for EODB as this can be used as a guide to improve government services.

“I still suggest to still use the EODB measurements because that is the only global ranking in so far as EODB is concerned, of course minus the controversy," Gatchalian said.

"But these are useful indicators there that we can use to improve ourselves and I can see from your programs and the list that you mentioned na nakakasa na ang mga programs na ito [the programs are ready] to improve our ranking. So I strongly suggest to continue that so we wont lose direction,” he explaned.

Gatchalian also supported the localization of EODB rankings.

Apart from a body that ranks the LGUs and government agencies, he suggested to establish a body that would document the improvements and cascade the information to all concerned government institutions to "fight red tape at the local level.”

Moreover, Gatchalian said the private sector should be engaged in this grading system to establish credibility of the ranking.

The Senate finance subcommittee has approved ARTA’s P241.1 million proposed budget for 2022. — BM, GMA News