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DPWH personnel alleges ‘fixing’ rampant in ‘high places’

Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya - A workshop on Anti Red Tape Act recently conducted in the region by personnel from the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) central office, has generated mixed reactions from participants who alleged that most of the incidents of so-called ‘fixing and fixers in government’ are rampant in Manila.

The workshop which was attended by participants from the region’s various district offices was aimed to enhance the services of the works agency’s front-liners and to put a stop to the practice of paper works fixing, wherein some DPWH personnel are reportedly being paid by some of the agency’s clients or contractors to prioritize the facilitation of their documents.

The extra legal procedure gives the said favored client undue advantage over those who follow the normal procedure in processing their documents. It also promotes corruption within the government.

While personnel from the district office of the DPWH here claimed that the workshop in itself was laudable since it will further improve their services and community relations, some participants from other areas in the region also alleged that ‘fixing’ in the provincial offices occur when some officials from ‘high places’ ‘flex their muscles’ to expedite the papers of favored clients.

A workshop participant from the DPWH office here who asked not to be named disclosed that other participants commented that the alleged corrupt practice of ‘fixing’ within the agency’s provincial offices will continue as long as some high-level officials themselves condone it.

“I am not sure in other areas in the region but here in the province, I am not aware of anybody who is a regular ‘fixer’, if ever there is, malamang galing lang yung utos sa itaas at maaaring takot naman ang ilang tao dito na ‘wag sundin ang request, ”he said.

The DPWH’s Anti Red Tape Workshop held in Cagayan is in compliance with President Arroyo’s Administrative Order (AO) 241 ordering government departments and bureaus to streamline and post the procedures for the government’s most heavily utilized process or services.

The AO also instructed government agencies to put a stop on the so-called fixing in the workplace and to file appropriate charges to any body found guilty of such.

An article from the DPWH news site quoted works Secretary Hermogenes Ebdane that his office is now in coordination with the Office of the Ombudsman on the series of information campaigns and the implementation of the Rules and Regulations of the Anti-Red tape Act of 2007.

“We are continuously promoting transparency in all our operations by developing our clientele feedback, “he said, referring to the agency’s mobile phone complaints and inquiry system through Txt 2920 and telephone hotline.

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