Makati city: President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday highlighted the considerable challenges within the government bureaucracy that need to be addressed to improve the country's ease of doing business and align it with regional counterparts. Speaking at the ASEAN Editors and Economic Opinion Leaders Forum, Marcos identified red tape and overlapping regulations as significant barriers to efficient government transactions.

According to Philippines News Agency, Marcos emphasized the lengthy processes involved in securing basic civil documents as an example of bureaucratic inefficiencies. He noted that obtaining a new copy of a birth certificate could take a month or more, attributing this delay to manual processing and handwritten record-keeping. To tackle these issues, the government is reducing physical interactions between citizens and agencies and promoting digitalization. Marcos stated that the country's geography, with over 7,600 islands, makes digital transformation crucial. He highlighted the introduction of the e-Gov application, which facilitates online transactions with government agencies, and mentioned that approximately 70 percent of personal IDs are now digital.

Marcos acknowledged that the Philippines still trails behind some ASEAN neighbors in streamlining business processes. He cited Singapore and Vietnam as models for efficient business registration, requiring minimal documentation processed centrally. However, he admitted that reforming the system is a gradual process. He pointed out that legislative "knee-jerk reactions" often lead to contradictory checks and balances, causing civil servants to act cautiously to avoid violating outdated rules. Marcos asserted that the administration is making progress, though at a slower pace than desired, likening it to being at kilometer 8 of a 10-kilometer journey.