GOVERNMENT agencies plagued by long lines of people transacting business with them should comply with the Republic Act (RA) No. 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, a House leader said yesterday.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, chairman of the House committee on higher and technical education, said the law obliges them to hold regular time-and-motion studies in order to cut the time needed to issue permits and licenses.

Angara said it further requires all public offices to constantly review the time it would take them to process requests for licenses, permits and other public documents.

He urged Malacañang to take notice of which agencies have been hosting long queues of applicants for government-issued documents and to pressure them into accelerating the processing time by giving them deadlines.

“I think it‘s time for the Palace to come up with a compliance scorecard in eradicating red tape,” Rep. Sonny Angara suggested.

“But corollary to this, is the extension of services and even budgetary support to help agencies overcome their difficulties. If the long lines and processing time are caused by lack of equipment or personnel, for example, then government should arrange funding for their acquisition,” Angara stated.

Philippines ranked 148th (out of 183 countries) in the Ease of Doing Business Index, an international study annually conducted by International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank.

Its neighboring countries, Singapore and Hong Kong, on the other hand, placed 1st and 2nd respectively.   Ryan Ponce Pacpaco