Government efforts to streamline and simplify transaction periods and requirements for government services paved the way to the country’s climb in the 2018 Worldwide Governance Indicators (WGI), the National Economic and Development Authority said.
The Philippines improved its percentile rank in terms of Regulatory Quality (56.73 from 55.77 in 2017).
This exceeded the target of 54.0 percentile rank, laid out in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022. This also indicates gains in improving internal efficiency in the government.
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia emphasized “whole-of-government” approach as the key agent in the implementation of streamlining efforts to ensure efficient delivery of public goods and services.
Meanwhile, Government Effectiveness achieved a better percentile rank of 55.29 from 51.92 in 2017.
“More than the passage of the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, it has been government agencies themselves that made the difference in complying with these measures to make their services efficient,” the Cabinet official said.
Pernia added that the continuous integration of technology and institutionalization of regulatory impact assessments in government processes have helped in improving their effectiveness and regulatory quality.
On the other hand, other governance indicators posted low percentile rank compared with their performance in 2017. Voice and Accountability declined further to 47.78 percentile rank (pctl) versus 48.77 pctl in 2017, Control of Corruption dropped to 34.13 pctl versus 39.42 pctl in 2017, and Rule of Law fell to 34.13 pctl versus 37.02 pctl in 2017.
Pernia said the government will closely work with different sectors to address these issues and to keep up with the other Asean countries.
“The government will address shortcomings in other governance indicators by expanding inter-agency initiatives and engaging citizens to reduce corruption. Also, strengthening local development councils to ensure participation of civil society organizations, and addressing fragmentation in the justice system to ensure swift and fair administration of justice,” he added. (PNA)
