28 fixers arrested, 3 convicted so far — ARTA

The Anti-Red Tape Authority or ARTA on Thursday said a total of 28 fixers have been apprehended and three have been convicted as of September 2022.

During a Senate hearing on the agency’s budget for 2023, ARTA officer-in-charge Undersecretary Ernesto Perez said 21 entrapment operations were conducted.

“For the case handling, we have set up 21 entrapment operations. Twenty-eight fixers were apprehended and three were already convicted for violation of the anti-fixing law as mandated in the law ,” he said.

According to him, 74 cases with 567 counts of violation have already been filed with the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission.

Meanwhile, Perez said ARTA, under its program National Effort for the Harmonization of Efficient Measures of Inter-Related Agencies (NEHEMIA), has reduced the processing time, costs, and requirements in government offices.

For connectivity and telcos, Perez said the processing time was reduced from 241 days to 16 for passive telecommunications tower infrastructure (PTTI) and from 868 days to 74 days for fiber poles. Documentary requirements for PTTI were reduced from 86 to 15 while for fiber poles was from 62 to 36. The number of permits was also reduced 13 to 8 for PTTI and 11 to five for fiber poles.

For food and pharmacy, Perez said the steps were reduced from 28 to nine, process time from 63 days to 21, and documentary requirements from 41 to 12.

For logistics, the steps were reduced from 209 to 24 and process time for 271 days to 35.

For construction permitting, Perez said the steps were reduced from 22 to three and process time from 120 days to up to 20 days.

NEHEMIA is a sectoral-based streamlining effort that targets to reduce the time, cost, requirements, and procedures in sectors of economic and social significance by 52% within 52 weeks. The program was launched in 2020. — RSJ, GMA News

28 fixers arrested, 3 convicted so far — ARTA
Source: Filipino Viral News PH