Friday, October 17, 2008 Speak out: Taxpayers’ plea to the governor By Jose Tapales Bogo City
(THIS is an open letter to Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia)
Madam Governor, I am appealing to you on behalf of the poor taxpayers from areas north and south of the province.
These people always suffer from inconvenience and loss of time, money and effort, due to a poor system, which is prone to abuse and corruption, at the Office of the Provincial Register of Deeds.
This even if the said department now has a new air conditioned office.
A mere request for a certified true copy of title will take 5 to 7 days before it is given to the one requesting it.
Imagine how important this document is for court cases, subdivision of lots, and construction work. Economic development in our province and towns is therefore very much affected by the setup.
This practice of releasing the certified true copy for 5 to 7 days is too long to wait. Worse, the office posted a notice that only every 3 p.m. will copies of titles be released.
For the poor taxpayers from the provinces, they have to wait until 5 p.m. until the title is released. As a result, they arrive home very late at night.
If you notice, people from the towns line up at the office as if they are buying NFA rice. If the Register of Deeds of Cebu City has a good and orderly system, why can’t the Provincial Register of Deeds have it?
A bad system is prone to corruption because employees are given the luxury of time to demand money from the poor taxpayer in exchange for the fast tracking of the release of the documents.
Madam Governor, aware of your concern for the provincianos, I think that your early and timely intercession maybe the only answer so that a better system will be implemented at the Provincial Register of Deeds.
The taxpayers are already suffering from the heat of the sun during summer and rain during rainy season because the office is not accessible and no PUJs ply the area. There are taxis but they are good only for the rich people.
