EARLY in his term, President Rodrigo Duterte wanted processes in the government bureaucracy streamlined and efficient so that the public can get results in 72 hours. So inured are we with the ineptitude of the past administration, not a few thought that what the President wished is like asking for the moon.
However, there were indeed positive changes in many government functionaries although indolence had taken its toll among employees who had gotten used to the standard of efficiency of the past. Then VP Jojo Binay described this bureaucratic stupor as “noynoying” in obvious reference to then President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III who moves and acts so slowly even on urgent matters that needs his official attention.
When he was elected President, then mayor Rodrigo Duterte wanted the brand of efficiency that was and still is observed in Davao City. His directive took many government offices by surprise but slowly they adapted to the work discipline that is demanded from public officials and employees.
Except the Registers of Deeds (ROD). They are a league of their own and while I heard this before I never believed what I heard until I myself became a victim of such a classic inefficiency. I wrote a very brief comment on Facebook about why it should take ROD 30 days to transfer a title from one owner to another. In my case, I sold a 150 square meter-property and submitted all the necessary documents last August 9, 2019 to ROD Davao City so that a new title will be issued to my buyer. I had my first shock treatment when I was told that the new electronically-processed title will be issued in 30 days!
Hoping I can prod ROD to hasten the procedures, I would now and then check. All I got is a stoic and cold answer “30 days pa po”. The last time I had it checked ROD advised me that the title will be released on September 19, which means not 30 days as they promised but 40 days instead! I forgot to ask them “what year”.
When I checked on my FB post, I was aghast to learn that 40 days is quite fast considering that some of those who reacted and shared my post said that issuance of land titles in ROD Davao and elsewhere in the country can even go beyond one year.
Years back processing of land titles in Davao was a cinch. The last one I had took me less than five days. The reason given me by officials at ROD now is that all the new titles will now be “e-title”. It is similar to electronic ticket of airline firms when you book online. With say PAL, I get and download my ticket in less than 20 minutes because all the processes are done electronically by computers either in local or wide area network. In the case of ROD, it’s local area network since they kept all the records pertaining to the land transaction in just one place. Of course given the delicate data involved in land titling and transfers of ownerships, a justifiable number of days than usual is in order. But 40 days or over?
The euphemism of e-title sounds modern and impressive but that is all there is to it. The rest is plainly Jurassic.
How this agency seemed to be an exception to the Executive Order is behind comprehension. Everybody who is somebody at ROD has a computer. I would presume that these have access to the registry data bank. I noticed though that there are too many employees some in uniform and some are not. It is about time that the Land Registration Administration or the Office of the President orders a systems management and personnel audit of ROD and find out whether the computer systems are bugged or the officials and employees have yet to free themselves from the debilitating virus of ineptitude and indolence.
And maybe they can change the initials ROD to RegD to shield President Rody from subliminal and malicious insinuations of inefficiency.