THE Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has inked an agreement with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta), the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to “jointly implement” the provision of “necessary” technical assistance to select local government units (LGUs) in compliance with the law on ease of doing business.
The DILG, ARTA, DICT and MAP signed last Friday the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly boost the ease of doing business in select LGUs in compliance with Republic Act No. 11032 or the “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.”
Under the agreement, MAP will provide support for the implementation of RA 11032 at the local level by providing the “necessary” assistance, through capacity-building programs, to select LGUs.
The other parties agreed to cooperate to “strengthen and effectively” implement the provisions of RA 11032 to the LGUs.
Based on the MOU document, the cooperation framework has four components: policy direction and advocacy campaign; capacity development; logistics and technical support, and monitoring and performance assessment.
The policy direction and advocacy component focuses on formulation and issuance of guidelines, if necessary, by the parties in collaboration with concerned agencies.
DILG is primarily tasked for the first component. It is responsible for the policy orientation of concerned LGUs on the issued guidelines.
The second component of capacity development entails the conduct of training on the initiatives on ease of doing business pursuant to RA 11032.
“The DILG is lodged with the implementation of streamlining of business permit and licensing system (BPLS), building permit and certificate of occupancy (BPCO), and issuance of permits, licenses, clearances, and certifications for the construction of telecommunication infrastructures, rationalization of fees and charges (RFC), and integration of barangay clearance in LGU permitting process, and conduct of regulatory reform for LGUs,” the MOU noted.
Conduct of users’ training on E-Local Government Unit (ELGU), meanwhile, is under DICT. MAP, for its part, is in charge of capacity building such as technical assistance to ensure compliance to RA 11032.
The MOU noted that the third component, the logistics and technical support, comprises hardware and software support. “The target LGUs were the beneficiaries of computer units and accessories from Manila Electric Company under the Paspas Pilipinas Paspas Project through a Memorandum of Understanding with DILG and ARTA. These beneficiaries shall be prioritized in the deployment of software from the DICT such as ELGU,” the agreement said.
The fourth component—monitoring and performance assessment—underscores the importance of audit and evaluation of the implemented projects to LGUs.
“Existing monitoring tools of the Parties may be utilized such as conduct of quarterly monitoring by the DILG as well as actual audit and validation by the ARTA. Selection and documentation of best practices of the LGUs may be subject to recognition by MAP,” the MOU said.
MAP President Benedicta Du-Baladad revealed, meanwhile, that one of MAP’s projects this year is the “Adopt an LGU” program.
“We will select LGUs to be assisted not only in improving the ease of doing business through digitalization solutions but, at the same time, help address malnutrition and child stunting in the locality,” Du-Baladad said during the MOU signing event in Taguig City.
“The transformed or “modernized LGU” will then be given recognition and serve as a model for other LGUs to replicate. We can even take this recognition a notch higher by conferring to the Best LGU the award as the “MAP’s LGU of the year,” the MAP president added.
This, Du-Baladad said, can encourage LGUs to push for more robust economic activities through better processes, and thus attain their objective of making life easier for their citizens.
On the sidelines of the MOU signing, she explained to reporters that MAP is “consolidating all the data that we’re getting so that we have a basis for who are the municipalities that we want to prioritize.”
“This is an up-and-coming project because we’re trying to consolidate data [since] this is mainly for malnutrition initially and then after that because of all these initiatives, we plan to have it like a holistic [program] in an LGU,” Du-Baladad said.
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