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Official Publication of the Philippine Information Agency Bicol Regional Office, in cooperation with the RIAC-REDIRAS - RDC Bicol



Tuesday, March 4, 2014

CSC, USAID partner to improve ARTA implementation

LEGAZPI CITY, March 4 (PIA) – The Civil Service Commission (CSC), in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), is pursuing to enhance the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA) Report Card Survey (RCS)  through the conduct of a study on the the efficiency of the present system.

CSC Bicol regional director Cecilia Nieto said the Ateneo School of Government Watch or G-Watch will be conducting the study on ARTA RCS as part of the Component 2 of the Integrity for Investments Initiative (i3) Project – Reducing Opportunities for Public Sector Corruption.

Nieto said the ARTA RCS is an instrument used to check agency compliance with the various ARTA provisions to gauge citizen’s satisfaction with the quality of government services.

It also asks the citizens, as clients, to directly rate the performance of government offices insofar as frontline service delivery is concerned.

The study, added Nieto, will provide the CSC with clear and implementable recommendations on how the RCS can be amended, revised, or reengineered to make the tool more effective and responsive for monitoring compliance to ARTA and anti-corruption laws and regulations.

The i3 project is an undertaking by the government of the Philippines and the United States.

It is funded by the USAID to work with anti-corruption offices to address the most serious constraints to economic growth. It can be done by reducing the costs of corruption to investments and trade thus promoting open and fair competition.

The project, targeted to be completed by May this year, is expected to result in a more effective implementation of the Anti-Red Tape Law.

USAID Deputy Mission Director Reed Aeschliman also expressed his appreciation to be part of CSC’s visionary reform.

He said fighting corruption is complex and ARTA is an effective complement to the anti-corruption efforts of the Office of the Ombudsman and the Commission on Audit also supported by the USAID.

CSC Chair Francisco Duque added that he is confident with the technical experts aboard, backed by a funding agency committed to assist countries like the Philippines in strengthening democracy and good governance.

CSC is the lead implementer of RA 9485 or Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007. (MAL/SAA-PIA5/Albay)

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