(First of Two Parts)
MANILA, Philippines --- Manny (not his real name), a 63-year-old seaman, has been complaining about the requirements that he has to comply with just to board the chemical tanker, where he has been working as an electrician for more than 30 years now.
“It is expensive now due to more requirement, like the SOLAS and other training, which before had no expiration. Now, after five years, you have to renew and undergo training again, which cost us a lot,” Manny lamented, in an interview with MB Research.
He revealed spending around P30,000 just for the requirements that he had to submit, in addition to other related expenses.
“[You have to spend] thousands of pesos for the training, including the other documentation. This also includes your everyday expenses like your fare and food during the training,” said Manny.
Elsewhere, Eloisa Lat, an owner of a 24-hour bakeshop in Manila, is having problems with the renewal of certificates and permits for her newly opened enterprise next year if the fees and charges will be raised before the end of the year.
“It’s not good news. If fees and charges of permits and certificates will increase, [our] products’ prices will also increase; otherwise, we’ll go bankrupt,” said 24-year-old Eloisa.
When she opened her bakery early this year, Eloisa paid for different permits and certificates—Department of Trade and Industry business name registration, sanitary permit, business permit and fire safety inspection certificate, to name a few. According to her, it cost her business about P20,000 just to comply with these requirements.
Little did Manny and Eloisa know that their common dilemma also affects other ordinary Filipinos applying for requirements and other government permits.
Just weeks after the effectivity of Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 ignited public uproar, President Benigno S. Aquino III on October 1 signed Administrative Order No. 31 (AO 31), which allows all government agencies to increase the rates of their fees and other charges, if necessary, to provide efficient public service.
The new order repealed the 2007 Memorandum Circular No. 137, which directs heads of all government agencies to seek clearance first from the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board before imposing new charges or increasing their existing fees.
In a separate interview, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Sonny Coloma highlighted that with the rationalization, the new fees will be “reasonable, fair and harmonized.”
“It is stated in Section 2, which is the Guiding Principles, that ‘In the determination of rates and imposition of new fees and charges, a balance between recovering the costs of services rendered and the socio-economic impact of their imposition shall be sought’,” said Coloma.
The order also aims to enable government to effectively provide services without straining the national government’s resources by collecting just and reasonable rates of fees and charges.
AO 31 directed the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and NEDA to create the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) that will provide the boundaries for determining just prices and safeguard public protection against unreasonable and arbitrary fees and charges.
DOF is involved in the fiscal management, while DBM is concerned with allocating the money to be used by different departments.
“Our government is similar to a household with enough earnings for the family. We are earning enough to cover the expenses of our household which is the government. These fees come along with the revenue that we are earning. So, DOF will be able to access the revenues being earned,” explained Coloma.
The secretary mentioned that DBM is part of the implementation because “[it is] the one that makes the budget, which the President presents to the Congress, who will approve it. [The Congressmen are] the ones to approve because they are directly elected by the people; representatives and senators are there to safeguard the interest of the people.”
“NEDA [on the other hand] will rationalize the whole system, since it is in-charge of the Philippine Development Plan, which is the master plan for the growth and development of the country,” Coloma added.
But Manny and Eloisa still expressed disappointment over the enactment of this new directive by the President.
“[Seaman’s] primary problem is the increase of fees and rates that will be a burden to us because money is the center of this issue. The payment for the trainings alone is already costly and it will be raised by the expenses in [obtaining] permits and certificates,” said the senior seaman.
“Even though we’ve been seamen for a long time, the cost of different training programs and processing of permits and papers will still be painful to our pockets. What more to those people expecting to be a seaman, but don’t have sufficient money to comply with the requirements?” Manny added.
“The cost of our daily electricity is costly. We are earning but not that big,” Eloisa said. “For us, the fees we are paying for is costly already; how much more if it is raised?”
Coloma, however, maintained that knowledge and expertise should be broadened here for people to appreciate the issues about government getting the necessary fees for the services rendered.
“All we needed is to thoroughly study the administrative order. If you [will try to] scrutinize it, you will understand that the intention is really to attain improvement,” Coloma said. (To be concluded)
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