General Santos City launches updated Citizen’s Charter

GENERAL SANTOS has updated it Citizen’s Charter to further improve its operations and delivery of excellent services to the public.

Mayor Ronnel Rivera said the 3rd edition of the Citizen’s Charter, mainly rationalized various transactions at the City Government and updated some major policies and processes. He said these include the removal of some duplicated requirements and signatories in the processing of documents. “We also updated and placed the required fees in our new Citizen’s Charter to make them more transparent,” he said.

Rivera said the updating of the Citizen’s Charter was in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 9485 or the Anti-Red Tape Act (ARTA) of 2007, which aims to “combat corrupt behavior and improve frontline public services offered to the citizens.” The local government came up with the first edition after the approval of ARTA in 2007 and updated it in 2011.

Director Rilimin Sandoval, of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, lauded the city government for updating its Citizen’s Charter and for continually working to improve its governance systems. She said it complements with the national government’s efforts to “improve efficiency in the delivery of basic services to the public by reducing bureaucracy, red-tape and preventing graft and corruption.”

Sandoval urged local residents to take advantage of the Citizen’s Charter and avail of the best services from the local government. “Whatever is written in this book should be implemented and be practiced,” she said. (With a report from Mindanao Examiner)

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