MikeLigalig.com

Bohol Capitol makes itself liable for citizen’s complaints over poor service when it launched its own citizen’s charter Wednesday, July 15.
 
No less than Commissioner Ricardo Saludo of the Civil Service Commission officiated the Citizen’s charter unveiling at the Bohol Cultural Center Wednesday while Capitol employees witnessed the ceremony.
 
With the launching of the Citizen’s charter, Capitol substantially cuts 1/3 of document processing time, Capitol’s Human Resource Officer Romeo S. Teruel hinted.
 
From the traditional 15 days maximum document processing time allowed, Bohol Capitol now implies 10 days maximum processing as Bohol trailblazes again in Central Visayas as the first province to respond to the call to cut bureaucratic red tape and do away with every opportunity for graft and corruption, said Capitol Chief of Staff Antonieto Pernia recently.
 
The country’s Anti-Red Tape Law of 2007 or RA 9485 provides for the formulation of Citizen’s Charter by each Local Government Unit in the country before September 2009.

A Citizen’s Charter is a document that contains information of the frontline services being provided by the local government unit to its citizens, Teruel summed.

A Capitol Task Force consisting local executives formulated the Charter which shall then be placed on information billboards posted at the main entrance of offices or at most conspicuous places for the citizens to know which services is available at the office, he added.

According to the law, the Citizen’s Charter should include the office’s vision and mission; identification of the frontline services offered, and the clientele; step-by-step procedure to obtain a particular service; and officer or employee responsible for each step.

The Charter shall also include the maximum time to conclude the process; documents to be presented by the client; amount of fees, if necessary, procedure for filing of complaints in relation to requests and applications, among others.

With the citizen's charter, the public can clearly follow the steps of the services offered, and easily identify the loopholes in the given system, Teruel explained.

This, he said should help eliminate bureaucratic red tape, avert graft and corruption practices and improve the efficiency of government frontline services. (PIA)

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=21187.0