CHAPTER 1

The Problem and its Setting

Introduction

“If you want your people to be responsible,

be responsible to their
needs.”
- Ken Blanchard, The Heart of a Leader

The government is an agency through which the will of the state is

formulated, expressed, and carried out. 1 It contributes in shaping the aspirations

of the people to improve the quality of lives. The government deals with the

government set-up of a state on both the national and local levels. 2 Government

exists for the benefit of the people governed. They are expected to deliver basic

social services that will improve the well-being of its citizenry. It takes care of

peace and order and ensures safety and justice for all. Service to the people is

the basic foundation of the government. One form of this amenity is the Social

services offered not just by the various sectors but of all the offices and agencies.

Social services are a range of public services provided by any national or

regional government organization for its residents, including such things as public

housing, social care and social security.3 This aims to improve the life and

living conditions of the children, disabled, the elderly, and the poor in the

national community.
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In the pursuit of this goal, the government should employ good

governance in all of their offices. The concept of "good governance" often

emerges as a model to compare ineffective economies or political bodies with

viable economies and political bodies. The concept centers on the responsibility

of governments and governing bodies to meet the needs of the masses. 4 Good

governance sets the normative standards of development. It fosters participation,

ensures transparency, demands accountability, promotes efficiency, and upholds

the rule of law in economic, political and administrative institutions and

processes.5

Sustainable development, social cohesion and environmental

management are dependent on governance and efficient public sector

management. Hence, good governance is representative of a successful public

sector reform program that promotes equity and sustainable development. A

weak governance system compromises the delivery of services and benefits to

those who need them most; the influence of powerful interest groups biases

policies, programs and spending away from the poor and lack of property rights,

police protection and legal services disadvantages the poor and inhibits them

from securing their homes and other assets and operating businesses. Poor

governance generates and reinforces – and subverts efforts to reduce it, while

bad governance acts as a barrier to economic development to both domestic and

foreign direct investment and this leads to the collapse of the nation state. 6
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Good governance is rooted from good public administration.

Public administration is basically an organized process concerned with

implementation of objectives and plans and internal operating efficiency. It

includes formulation of public policies and also implementation of government

programs towards development. But challenges that constrain development will

always be at the corner to test the credibility of institutions. One of the hindrances

that prevent good governance is the practice of Red Tape. Red tape is a term

used to refer to a way of expressing discontent with the workings of a

bureaucracy with regard to inefficiency and mismanagement.7

The concept of “red tape” is used today as a noun to describe excess

bureaucracy and regulation that serves as cost on business. It is usually applied

to governments, corporations, and other large organizations. Today, the phrase

evokes a variety of frustrations, including complying with rules that make no

sense or deliver little benefit and much cost; wasting time waiting in line to get a

form approved or on the telephone waiting for advice; wading through

complicated language to try to figure out compliance obligations; filling out

cumbersome, unnecessary paperwork; and suffering the uncertainty and delays

that can come with waiting for permit or license approval which ultimately make

conducting one's affairs slower, more difficult, or both. 8

The exact origins of the term “red tape” is unclear, however during the

16th Century the Holy Roman Empire of Spanish King Charles V began to use

red tapes manufactured in Holland to bind important documents of state. This

helped to identify them from less important documents. 9The first record of it being
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used in this sense is from “The pleader's guide”, 1796. Whatever the origin of red

tape or its previous usage was, it has been considered a nuisance to society until

this very day.

Pursuant to Section 16 of said law, the Civil Service Commission (CSC),

as mandated therein, promulgated the Implementing Rules and Regulations of

said act on July 24, 2008 which was published in the Philippine Star on August

21, 2008. Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007 and its IRR aim to promote transparency in

the government, re-engineering the systems and procedures of each office or

agency with regard to the manner of transacting with the public. Thus, each

agency is required to simplify frontline service procedures, formulate service

standards for clients to observe or follow in every transaction and make these

standards known to the client was promulgated in response to the urgent need to

establish an effective system that will eliminate bureaucratic red tape, avert graft

and corruption practices, and improve efficiency of delivering government

frontline services.10 It applies to all government offices and agencies including all

local government units and government-owned and controlled corporations with

or without original charter that provides frontline services. 11

In reality the rules and regulations that agents confront are typically drawn

up by the very individuals who are able to exploit them for their own personal

gain. Far from being beyond bureaucrat’s control, red tape is an instrument of

choice that bureaucrats can use to extort bribes. Given this, then red tape has as

much to do with corruption as bribery, itself. Red tape and corruption in entry

regulation may be viewed as acting like taxes on business activity. Unlike other
 5

forms of taxation, however, the costs involved are typically incurred before

production takes place and, in the case of corruption, are the result of illegal,

clandestine transactions with rent-seeking public officials. Fixers are found

wherever rules and regulations governing business or the public sector appear

overly bureaucratic and complex while proper oversight and control is poor. And

wherever fixers are found, corruption is seldom very far behind. 12

The delivery of public services must be prompt and adequate to citizens

’needs. Cumbersome government procedures slow down the delivery of public

service and increase transaction costs. The same arduous government

processes also provide the venues for corruption, given the natural tendency to

avoid the bureaucratic red tape. The Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA) of 2007 already

requires national departments, agencies, and LGUs to set up their respective

service standards known as Citizen’s Charters (CCs), to simplify procedures, and

to facilitate transactions. As of August 30, 2010, 74 percent of agencies (4,253 of

5,716) nationwide had complied with the drafting and promulgation of CCs. As a

means to develop citizens’ awareness of their rights vis-à-vis government and

encouraging citizens’ criticisms when aggrieved, this is one step towards cutting

red tape and reducing corruption.13

In Philippines, it is the role of the government to recognize the importance

of each government offices in the society. Each office has duties and functions

having their roles in the promotion of good governance. They work hand in hand

in promoting community development. At present, Local governments confront

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rising public expectations regarding the delivery of services. Despite almost two

decades of implementation of the 1991 Local Government Code (LGC), however,

local governments still face various challenges in the exercise of their devolved

service delivery functions. Foremost among these is the raising of sufficient funds

for local development. A majority of the local governments still lack the ability or

the will to raise adequate local revenues. LGUs have become unduly dependent

on Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) transfers from the national government and

have failed to manage their financial resources effectively and sustainably. These

persistent issues are a significant hurdle in the realization of the goals of local

autonomy and devolution through good local governance and effective service

delivery. Owing to loopholes in the LGC, as well as the lack of capacities of local

governments in assuming devolved functions, national government agencies

(NGAs) continue to deliver certain services despite the transfer of these services

to the local governments. The confused and overlapping performance of

functions compromises the lines of accountability for local services. 14

The Philippines placed 138th place out 185 on the ‘Doing Business Report

2012’ conducted by the World Bank and International Finance Corporation, the

crippling effects of red tape was seen behind this. In response to the urgent need

to eliminate red tape and improve frontline service delivery in government offices,

Republic Act No. 9485, otherwise known as the “Anti Red Tape Act of 2007” was

enacted by Congress on June 20, 2007 but was implemented last July 24, 2008.

Bicol Region has six provinces namely Albay, Camarines Norte,

Camarines Sur, Sorsogon, Catanduanes, and Masbate. Each province exhibits

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different planning strategies on how they would improve the delivery of their

services as well as the proper execution of their functions and duties.

Masbate is one of the major cities in the Bicol Region. The first thing

people picture when in Masbate is the Rodeo Festival (the annual National

Rodeo Competition), Masbate isn’t just cowboy country. It’s also a melting pot of

different cultures. Locals speak Minasbate — a mix of the Ilonggo, Cebuano,

Bicolano and Hiligaynon dialects. 15 The city domain is bounded on the northeast

by Masbate Pass; on the southwest by the municipality of Milagros and on the

northwest by a portion of Asid River and the municipalities of Milagros and

Baleno. The city is more or less situated at the center of Masbate province, too,

taking the tip of Burias Island as its northernmost part and the tip of Esperanza

municipality as the southernmost part. The city serves as the dividing line

between Luzon and the rest of the islands in the country. There are so many

things that remain undiscovered in Masbate City.

In 2013, Masbate City ranked 20 in the list of the most competitive cities in

the Philippines; the three factors that were considered in the report were

economic dynamism, government efficiency, and infrastructure. 16 Masbate city

government promotes paragon of excellence in public service delivery. The Field

Office of the Civil Service Commission has nominated Masbate city, along with

four other local government units and three national agencies here that

possesses the Best HRM Practice on Anti-Red Tape Act Compliance. The other

nominees are the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), Sattelite

Office, the National Prosecution Service, the City Division of Schools and the
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LGUs of Mobo, Dimasalang, Aroroy and Monreal. Advocating good governance

through the auspices of the Institute for Solidarity in Asia’s Performance

Governance System, the city government of Masbate is strongly committed and

adheres to the principles of the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007. 17 This promising

development in a region considered one of the poorest in the country, caught the

interest of the researchers to find out about how efficient the delivery of

government services are through the implementation of the Anti-Red Tape Act in

the city of Masbate.

There are considerable milestones the City Government have been

reaping and continue to implement programs and projects to improve the quality

of life of Masbateňos and make the City more livable. Aside from the annual

program and project the City Government is implementing, it formulates

innovative programs and improves its services for the betterment of the City as a

whole and the satisfaction of the constituents.

In view of this, the researchers recognized the fact that the city of Masbate

is way ahead in implementing the Anti-Red Tape Act. They would like to find out

how the social service offices of Masbate City comply with the Anti-Red Tape

Act, and is felt by selected clientele of the respective offices, whether they really

feel the improvement in the delivery of frontline services in the selected

government offices that they deal with. This study is being pursued in order to

find out the actions of the selected government offices in Masbate City. By this

means, the government was informed of the impact of the implementation of the

ARTA and hope that they will realize more their role of vigorously assisting and
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initiating development in their frontline services. This will give the government

offices an idea on the areas that need more attention to facilitate the attainment

of the goals of the act.

This will help the local government offices and other government

controlled offices in identifying which area needs more attention and action to

address these problems. The study would further gather implications from the

clientele and the government offices regarding the problems encountered. By

knowing which aspect of the ARTA the city is lacking, the CSC would know what

areas they need to focus on.

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to know the compliance on Anti-Red Tape Act by the Social

Service offices of the Local Government Unit of Masbate City. Furthermore the

study aims to answer the following questions:

1. What is the socio-demographic profile of the respondents?

2. What is the compliance of the selected social service offices of LGU

Masbate on the delivery of each frontline service?

3. What are the problems encountered by the implementers and the clients

in the compliance of Anti-Red Tape Act?

4. What are the proposed measures to solve the problems?

5. What are the implications to the delivery of public services in Masbate

City?
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Scope and Delimitation

This study will determine the compliance on Anti-Red Tape Act of the

Local Government Unit offices that offer social services, the problems

encountered by the implementers and clients in the implementation of the act

and as well as the proposed measures solving such problems. After this, the

researchers will come up with corresponding implications in the delivery of public

services in Masbate City. The government offices which offer social services that

will be included in the study will be the Bureau of Fire Protection, Social Welfare

and Agriculture. Moreover, the questionnaires will be administered to the

clienteles and interviews will be conducted among employees and department

heads of the three social service offices of Local Government Unit which deliver

frontline services.

The locale of this study will be Masbate City. It will only focus on its Local

Government Unit offices which offer social services and their respective

clienteles. The focus of this study is to gather information from the following

groups in Masbate City that shall comprise the employees and clienteles. The

employees included will come from the office of Bureau of Fire Protection, Social

Welfare and Agriculture and the clienteles will cover the three most populated

barangays in the Upland (Maingaran, Malinta and Usab), Poblacion (Ibingay,

Nursery and Tugbo) and Coastal (Bantigue, Bolo and Pawa). There are 9

employees and 396 clienteles covered by this study.

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This study will give emphasis to the frontline services which involve

applications for any privilege, right, permit, reward, or for any modification,

renewal or extension of the applications and/or requests.

The study delimits it scope to the Section 8 of Anti Red Tape Act which

concerns the accessing of frontline services of the social services offices of LGU.

Other aspects presented in the Anti-Red Tape Act which does not cover frontline

services are excluded from the scope of this study. The coverage of this study

will be summer of 2014 and the scope of compliance on social service offices of

LGU Masbate is 2008 to present.

Significance of the Study

The researchers believe that this study may be considered important by

the following:

Local Government Unit of Masbate. This study will serve as a guide to

the LGU/Government of Masbate with regard to the effective rendering of

services to the clients as well as promote Masbate City as an effective LGU in

rendering service.

Masbateños. This will provide additional information to the knowledge of

the residents of Masbate City for it shall provide clear ideas and concepts on how

they should be served and how they should receive the services rendered by the

implementing agencies.
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Bicol University Administration. This study will help them determine

related problems concerning the implementation of Anti-Red Tape Act in their

respective offices thus creating solutions to address such problems that they

shall provide through understanding and increased awareness of the concepts

and views on of Anti-Red Tape Act.

Political Science Department. In promoting higher quality education of

the department, this study can serve as reference material to the faculty and staff

of the Political Science Department. The results of this study will give way to

better understanding of the Anti-Red Tape Act that is important in evaluating how

it is implemented and how the services rendered by the implementing agencies

are affected by such.

Political Science Students of BUCSSP. Through this study, the Political

Science students’ interest will be awakened on this major political issue and will

broaden their knowledge considering that they are political enthusiasts. The

students will also be able to answer immediately when asked about questions

relating to the Anti-Red Tape Act. The results of this study can also enhance their

analytical and keen observation on the implementation not only of the said law

but of current and future laws that will be implemented by the government. This

study would help boost the awareness of the students in relation to local

government matters, since they have a better understanding of the nature of the

government, politics, laws and policies. Thus, as political science students, this

study would be very hopeful to these students for reference purposes especially

in Local Governance discussion.

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Future researchers. This study will serve as a reference material. This

can benefit the future researchers who will be conducting studies that are related

to this study as it will serve guide to their learning by serving its purpose as

reference material. Aside from being a guidance and assistance, this study will

also help create an improvement in their own research by supplying relevant data

found in this study.

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Notes

1
Hector S. de Leon, and Emilio E. Lugue, Textbook on the New Philippine
Constitution, 1982 Edition, (Manila: Rex Bookstore), p.6.
2
Florentino G. Ayson, and Dolores Aligada-Reyes, Fundamentals of
Political Science, Second Edition, 2000, (Manila:National Bookstore, 2005)
p.257-258.
3
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org, April 23, 2014, 11:33:12 PM.
4
Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org//, April 23, 2014, April 23, 2014,
11:55:49 PM.
5
Retrieved from http://www.neda.gov.ph/, April 23, 2014, April 23, 2014,
12:03:27 PM.
6
Retrieved from http://reform.gov.bb/page/GOOD_GOVERNANCE.pdf /,
April 24, 2014, 05:25:27 PM.
7
Red Tape Law and Legal Definitions, Retrieved from
http://definitions.uslegal.com/r/red-tape/ April 24, 2014, 06:08:56 PM.
8
Retrieved from http://www.neda.gov.ph/, April 23, 2014, April 23, 2014,
12:03:27 PM.
9
Canada’s Red Tape Report, Retrieved at http://www.cfib-fcei.ca/cfib-
documents/rr3282.pdf/ , April 24, 2014, 06:10:48PM.
10
Tim Mazzarol, What is Red Tape and Why is it a problem for small firms,
Retrieved at http://theconversation.com/what-is-red-tape-and-why-is-it-a-
problem-for-small-firms-6601/, April 24, 2014, 06:11:13PM.
11
De Vera Ben Arnold O., Philippines cuts 'red tape' in doing business,
Retrieved from http://www.interaksyon.com/business/71077/philippines-cuts-red-
tape-in-doing-business.html, April 15, 2014, 9:08.
12
DILG, Anti Red Tape Act, Retrieved from
http://www.dilgregion1.com/index.php/ppa/outcome-3/anti-red-tape-act.html, April
15, 10:10
13
Retrieved from http://www.transparencyreporting.net//, April 24, 2014,
06:04:249 PM.
14
Retrieved from http://www.neda.gov.ph/, April 23, 2014, April 23, 2014,
12:03:27 PM.
 15

15
Retrieved from http://www.neda.gov.ph/, April 23, 2014, April 23, 2014,
12:03:27 PM.

16
Retrieved from http://www.masbatecity.gov.ph/, April 23, 2014, April 23,
2014, 09:08:20 PM.
17
lbid.