AIM finding of bribery assailed by city brass
LEVEL OF COMPETITIVENESS
‘Smile to taxpayers’, Baraan urges workers
Dagupan City Administrator Rafael Baraan assailed the analysis made by the prestigious Asian Institute of Management (AIM) that the high cost of doing business in Dagupan was due to corruption.
AIM’s report, based on perception indicators it gathered from small and medium sized businessmen in the city, pointed to corruption in city hall as the main factor that contributed to Dagupan’s diminished competitiveness, placing it in poor 3lst place among the 37 small-sized cities in the Philippines.
The analysis said the demand for bribe to establish business in the city has made it costly to operate.
Baraan and other city hall officials flatly denied the perception branding it as “untrue” and “irrational” and claimed that no corruption is going on in the city.
Instead, Baraan believes that Dagupan is losing its competitiveness because the employees are not customer-friendly and perhaps arrogant and immediately called on the city hall employees, particularly employees of the One-Stop-Business--Shop, to always smile when transacting business with taxpayers and businessmen.
The city administrator believes that being friendly and accessible will counter the perception of the small and medium entrepreneurs.
Lecturing to the employees, he said “Perception is very different from the reality most of the time because everyone has its own perception in one thing to another.”
Baraan said the One-Stop-Business-Shop’s operation was computerized in order to facilitate the payment of taxes and improve the services to the businessmen and taxpayers.
In denying the perception that corruption is rampant in the city, Baraan said the city government “is doing its level best to improve the lives of every Dagupeño in spite of the city’s limited funds”.
He admitted that there is not enough money in the city coffers at present, and cited this situation as the reason why the city had to secure loans just to provide for the needs of the people.
He pointed out that though the city has fewer savings, it was rated well in terms of performance. Earlier, he denied a Commission on Audit financial report that Dagupan has the lowest savings among all cities in the Ilocos region. — AQL
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