Close to 100% of LGUs Have Citizen's Charters

October 14, 2009

Secretary Ronnie Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) today said close to 100 percent of the country’s provinces, cities and municipalities have already completed their respective Citizen’s Charters, a document that government agencies and local governments should formulate to eliminate red tape in their transactions.

Citing a monitoring report, Puno said a total of 1,538 or 96.67% of the 1,591 local government units all over the country have already formulated their own charters as of October 5, 2009 in compliance with the provisions of the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.

The said law mandates all government instrumentalities to set up service standards and identify the frontline transactions in their respective offices.

As provided for in the anti-red tape law, a citizen’s charter includes the following information: vision and mission; identification of the frontline services offered, and the clientele; step-by-step procedure to obtain a particular service; officer or employee responsible for each step; 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.

“I am pleased that our LGUs have taken great strides to complete their charters to promote accountability and transparency in the bureaucracy,” Puno said.

He explained that the formulation of the citizen’s charter as a strategy to reduce and eliminate red tape could help create a business-friendly environment in our LGUs.

According to the report, 69 out of the 75 provinces (92%), 113 out of the 119 cities (94.96%), and 1,356 out of the 1,397 municipalities (97.07%) have completed and presented their charters, while 52 of 3.27% of the 1,591 LGUs are still working on their charters

Puno said the DILG is implementing the anti-red tape law at the local level through its Comprehensive and Unified Response to Eliminate Red Tape or CUREproject.

Last year, the Department through its CURE project conducted a series of orientation seminars to governors and mayors and other local officials on the anti-red tape law, particularly on how to prepare and formulate the Citizen’s Charter.

The CURE project, which is being carried out in tandem with other government agencies like the Civil Service Commission and the Office of the Ombudsman, the Presidential Anti-Graft and Corruption Commission, and the Development Academy of the Philippines, aims to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of LGUs in their delivery of basic public goods and services to the public through the elimination of red tape practices.