THE departments of Finance (DOF) and Information and Communications Technology (DICT) have started collecting data from various government agencies for the development of an automated unitary business and citizen registry seen hastening frontline services provided the public.
This forms part of the government’s intensified effort to cut red tape and improve the quality of frontline services to the public.
The DOF anticipates making the unified registry operational before the end of the year. This relates to data usually asked of the public when applying for permits and documents.
Finance Undersecretary Gil S. Beltran, also head of the DOF’s Anti-Red Tape Team, said the data for the unified registry systems will be gathered from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Social Security System (SSS), the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS), the Philippine Health Corp. (PhilHealth), the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG) and the Office of the Treasurer of every local government unit (LGU).
“Examples of data are tax-identification numbers [TIN] from the BIR and employer registration numbers from the SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG Fund,” Beltran shared.
He explained that pertinent data, usually required from applicants wanting to secure licenses, permits and other official documents, would be culled from these agencies so that they could be linked and shared in the registries. He further said the registries will serve as a one-stop shop for individuals and corporate entities to easily track and validate their records, removing from them the burden of proving legitimacy.
“Now we are focusing on the citizens, the government’s clients, and how we can make it easier for them to apply for permits and other things they need in government offices by checking requirements online, instead of asking them to submit many documents,” he said.
A nationwide information campaign would be conducted before the registries become fully operational to educate all government agencies involved and the users on using the automated system. A minimal fee would be charged for the use of the registries, according to Beltran.
Although the DOF is still in the process of constructing the time frame for the data- sharing registry, Filipinos can expect them to be partly operational before the end of the year.
“Our IT [information-technology] people are working closely with revenue people to make things like that as simple as possible. If Amazon can do that, I don’t know how many millions of customers; I think we can certainly do something like that,” said Carlos G. Dominguez III, finance secretary.