THERE’S one more reason now for the public to trust and patronize the services of the state pension fund.

Just recently, the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) received the Silver Award from the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) for obtaining the highest rating of 92.8% or “Very Satisfactory” among 50 government agencies in the ARTA Report Card Survey (RCS) 2.0.

GSIS is of course honored to receive this recognition as it affirmed their efforts to provide the most responsive customer experience to our members and pensioners.

They can rest assured that GSIS will continue to find ways to make its services more convenient, seamless, and maginhawa, said GSIS President and General Manager Wick Veloso.

Inspected during the 2022 ARTA survey were the GSIS’s head office in Pasay City, and the GSIS branch offices in Cebu, General Santos, and Palawan.

Done in coordination with the Civil Service Commission and the Philippine Statistics Authority, the ARTA-RCS 2.0 is a holistic tool that “measures the effectiveness of the Citizen’s Charter in reducing regulatory burdens and the impact of government programs in delivering efficient government service”.

The Citizen’s Charter provides details on all of the agency’s frontline services, including the step-by-step procedures, showing the requirements, time, and fees involved for clients to get what they need.

In assessing an agency’s performance in service delivery, RCS 2.0 is used to determine if the provisions of the law are being followed and to gather feedback through customer satisfaction measurement survey.

Meanwhile, while ARTA is doing a good job to improve performances of government agencies, there was earlier call to abolish it.

Ombudsman Samuel Martires late last year appealed to senators to abolish the ARTA, saying there are more effective measures that would repel corruption.

He also said RA 11032 has overlapped with the functions of other agencies in determining the causes of inefficiency in government.

But various groups immediately oppose the Office of the Ombudsman’s call to abolish ARTA, the government agency tasked to implement initiatives to improve doing business in the country and eliminate red tape.

Eduardo Bringas, chairman of Alay-Pag-asa Christian Foundation, said the groups have banded together to form the “Riders of Christ N Rule of Law” (RoC & RoL) movement to back Republic Act (RA) 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act, which created the ARTA in 2018

However, Bishop Reuben Abante, DD of the Legal Aid Ministers and Partners, said that the Office of the Ombudsman and the ARTA can co-exist.

Ariel Inton, founder of the Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection, said, “If there are those calling to declare unconstitutional the ‘Ease of Doing Business Act’, we are not joining it.

Inton’s group see that the ARTA is an important agency of the government.

The ARTA investigates if there is really red tape in the government. The fixers are increasing in number.

Other members of the movement backing the ARTA are retired Gen. Fernando Pace, national president of the Law Enforcement Riders Association of the Philippines; Prof. Gerald Abergos, spokesperson of the Law Enforcement Riders Association of the Philippines; former Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) chairman Fortunato Guerrero; actor Bembol Roco; Nestor Tan, president of the Federation of Independent Textile Millers, Inc.; Transport Network Vehicle System (TNVS) members and riding community; and Delfin Bibbat, director of the Garment Business Association of the Philippines.

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