Calls for withdrawal of Aquino order to raise fee

Manila:Various groups called on President Benigno Aquino to withdraw his administrative order that grants various government agencies the right to raise prices of government documents.

This follows complaints that the move would affect businessmen, job-seekers, students, and overseas Filipino workers, among others.

In a resolution filed at the House of Representatives last November 8, Congressman Raymond Palatino of Youth Partylist, a sectoral party, asked Aquino to withdraw Administrative Order No 31.

“AO 31 will increase the cost of processing essential documents such as birth certificates, National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) clearance, passports, school certification, driver’s license, car and business registrations, and other documents needed by businessmen, job-seekers, overseas Filipino workers, and students,” said Palatino.

“Authorising government agencies to increase rates is just plain insensitive to the plight of the poor,” Palatino said, adding that current cost of government documents and services is “way beyond the means of many Filipinos”.

Government agencies have been using digitization process for their documents, a process that is efficient and cheap, Palatino said, adding Aquino’s order “should be reviewed and not implemented”.

Job-seekers need about P600 (Dh50) for basic government documents; OFWs, some P15,000 to P30,000 (Dh1,250 to Dh2,500) for documents for deployment abroad, sources said.

The government will earn P1.5 billion (Dh 125 million) from P67.9 billion (Dh5.6 billion), current rate, to P69.5 billion (Dh5.79 billion) in 2013, said Palatino, citing a report of the bureau of budget and management.

Aquino’s administrative order has selected the budget and finance departments and the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to oversee the implementation of the controversial administrative order.

Meanwhile, Congressman Walden Bello of Akbayan, a partylist at the House of Representatives, who also chairs the Congressional Committee on Overseas Workers Affairs (COWA), was criticized for not reacting against Aquino’s AO 31

“Undoubtedly, the OFWs will be hit hard by President Aquino’s AO 31 given the numerous government documents required for our deployment abroad,” said John Monterona, regional coordinator of Migrante-Middle East, in a letter of complaint to the Inquirer, about Bello’s assertion that he represents the interests of the OFWs in Congress.

In response to criticisms of the controversial administrative order, Foreign Affairs Secretary Jaime Ledda told Manila Bulletin, “The prime objective there (to raise fees) is towards the improvement of government services.”

The money raised from increased fees could be used for upgrading of technologies, acquiring new equipment, and expanding operations, said Ledda, adding that Aquino’s administrative order has also called for the observation of a process before a proposed increased fee is approved.

“We are not thinking of imposing burden or unjust payment; what we’re after is the right price,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Sonny Coloma also told the Bulletin.

Some three million students graduate every year.

About nine million OFWs are passport holders. The number does not include passport holders who are not OFWs.