Some suggestions for Hotline 8888

The good news is that Hotline 8888 serviced 54,743 citizens in its first five months, Aug.-Dec. 2016. The bad news is that 1.4 million calls were un-served because the citizens either abandoned the call or couldn’t wait in queue. That’s just one of many sad-happy notes about the complaints call center that Malacañang set up for prompt action.

The unit terribly is undermanned, with only 15 call agents per eight-hour shift, 24/7. But that’s already a big leap from where the Civil Service Commission expanded its lesser-known five-year-old 1-6565 call desks of 15 agents onboard only 8 a.m.-5 p.m. on workdays. CSC chairwoman Alicia dela Rosa-Bala had no funds to expand the facilities, and barely enough to triple the personnel.

The Office of the Cabinet Secretary is to take over soon, with 50 call agents per shift. But that’s still insufficient. Given the volume of 8888’s un-serviced calls, the hotline needs eight times that number of agents and computer-phones to handle the deluge.

It’s noteworthy that 8888 satisfied the 54,743 callers. The CSC call agents readily acted on four-fifths, 80.55 percent, of the requests. The rest formally were referred to the agency concerned. Referred issues remained active until resolved.

Nearly half, 49.02 percent, of the concerns were queries, ranging from government office locations to official requirements to basic rights. Complaints came next, 31.49 percent; then requests for assistance, 17.69 percent. There were a thousand suggestions and commendations.

Most of the complaints were against bureaucratic red tape and its consequences. In terms of volume, these concerned: (1) slow process; (2) unclear procedures; (3) discourtesy; (4) unattended assistance number; (5) failure to attend to clients during office hours; (6) extortion; (7) fixers; (8) poor facilities; (9) imposition of additional costs; (10) non-issuance of official receipts; (11) imposition of additional requirements; (12) failure to act on request; (13) breach of no noon break rule; (14) no response to letter; (15) non-observance of queuing system; (16) no special lane for senior citizens, pregnant women, persons with disabilities; (17) no posting of citizens’ charter; (18) no easy-to-read identification of frontline personnel; and (19) bribery.

The Top 10 complained agencies were: (1) Social Security System, (2) local government units, (3) Land Transportation Office, (4) Dept. of Foreign Affairs, (5) Home Development Mutual Fund, (6) Bureau of Internal Revenue, (7) Land Registration Authority, (8) Government Service Insurance System, (9) Phil. National Police, and (10) Phil. Postal Corp.

Agencies with the most number of clients naturally topped the list. The SSS, with 31 million members, has to process everyday loan applications, repayments, and extensions; pensions releases; and other benefits. The LTO caters to millions of driver’s license and vehicle registration applicants and renewals. The complaints alerted agencies to bad practices and kept government employees on their toes. SSS chairman Amado Valdez and LTO chief Edgar Galvante personally monitor the resolution of complaints. That gladdens CSC chairwoman Bala, that “there’s qualitative change.”

Callers to 8888 are asked for their full names, addresses, contact number, the complaint, which government man, and office branch. That somehow assures veracity of the incidents reported.

Still it can scare off small folk. That could be the reason for the small number – no more than 700 against extortion, bribery, fixers, and non-issuance of official receipts. There certainly were none about multimillion-peso rackets and anomalous contracts.

Different approaches – anonymous whistleblower-style – are needed for those. The CSC and the takeover Office of the Cabinet Secretary might wish to study the Indian anti-corruption program, “I Paid A Bribe.” It encourages citizens to e-mail or text, even anonymously, their sad experiences with “retail corruption.” License applicants narrate how they were forced to pay grease money, or traders let off at police checkpoints in exchange for bribes. Those unafraid to identify themselves did so.

The concept has spread to other countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. Social media like Facebook and Twitter have been put to use. At first there were concerns that “I Paid A Bribe” might be used maliciously to tarnish reputations. But recurring anonymous reports about extortions piled up into preponderant evidence.  Armed with information on day-to-day rackets, authorities devised countermeasures.

Other means can be used against large-scale graft. Coupled with laws to protect and reward whistleblowers, victims can expose crooked government contracts, court rulings, and secret dealings. Such cases need processing not by regular call center agents but specially trained sleuths. They must be lawyers, accountants, info-technologists, and other professionals familiar with the shady workings of the national and local bureaucracies. They have to be tenacious in case buildups, like the radio-newspaper team of “Isumbong Mo Kay (Ramon) Tulfo.”

In fact, that is something the Office of the Ombudsman should have initiated decades ago.

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