Cut Corners!....among the marching orders of President Duterte to the Agency Chiefs
Posted on Sunday, 3 July 2016
CUT CORNERS!…among
the “marching orders”
of President
Duterte to the Agency Chiefs
by Apolinario Villalobos
The new president, Rodrigo R. Duterte was touched
by the scene of throngs of people who slept on the pavement outside the office
of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in Ecoland, Davao City. According to
him, they came from as far as the towns of the Cotabato provinces. They had to
stay overnight in the makeshift waiting area so as not to lose their place in
the line as the office opens the following day. He was shocked to see such a
pathetic scene for he cannot fathom how the tax payers can be made to suffer
from the inefficiency of the office resulting to backlogs. Lack of high tech
facilities such as computer units, is not a reason, as the agency is supposed
to be constantly requiring support to make their operation efficient.
During his inaugural speech, he emphasized
his order to facilitate the processing of documents by doing away with the
redundant requirements including unnecessary signatures. These have been the
burden of the taxpayers who are made to return so many times for certain requirements
that are not necessary. Worst is the pending their documents due to the absence
of “unnecessary signatories”. The delay, as a result, has also been perceived
as a ploy of the attending employees to insinuate the need for “grease money”,
which is really very bad for the image of the government.
What makes the situation worse is the
attitude of many agency employees who act with arrogance while dealing with their
clients. Many of them do not exert extra effort to put the clients at ease,
whose need for the required documents are crucial. I had this experience when
attended to by an SSS counter employee. While I was about to ask another
question, she called the next number. At another government agency,
specifically, the Philippine Statistics Office, instead of answering my
questions, the attending employee kept on repeating their rule as if I was
deaf. In that agency, I was assisted by a security guard who was more helpful.
This systemic
defect can be perceived in other agencies, not only the DFA in Davao City.
Hopefully, the cutting of corners policy
will also result to the cutting of horns of the government employees with
devilish, vicious attitude, as if they are the boss of the tax payers!
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