Rated ‘Excellent’

MANILA, Philippines - Good deeds never go unnoticed.

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Quezon City Satellite Office obtained a composite rating of “Excellent” from the Civil Service Commission for services and procedures covered by the Anti-Red Tape Act or ARTA. With the Excellent rating, PCSO joined an elite group of reform-oriented government agencies that have demonstrated, through a report card, very high level of compliance with ARTA provisions and an excellent overall satisfaction from its clients.

The ARTA, enacted in 2007, aims to promote transparency in government with regard to the manner of transacting with the public by requiring each agency to simplify frontline service procedures, formulate service standards to observe in every transaction and make known these standards to the public as clients.

As part of simplifying frontline services, the PCSO-Quezon Satellite Office has set up a Public Assistance and Office Desk for easy access by the public of PCSO services. The agency provides a comfortable waiting area, with TV monitors for the queuing system. To make the already short public waiting time more bearable, the PCSO serves free mineral water to clients. In terms of service standards, the agency implements the “no lunch break” policy. There are no hidden costs to the transacting public for availing PCSO frontline services.

Relatedly, PCSO chair Margarita Juico disclosed that since 2010, PCSO has remitted to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) the amount of approximately P14.62 billion in taxes,  including back taxes from the previous administration. This makes PCSO one of the biggest taxpayers in the Philippines.

Juico is joined in the PCSO board by Jose Ferdinand Rojas II as general manager and vice chair, and Mabel V. Mamba, Francisco Joaquin III, Ma. Aleta Tolentino and Betty B. Nantes as directors.