The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) said it received 25,197 complaints as of end-January 2025.
The agency said of the total, 24,932 were resolved or referred to other agencies, resulting in a resolution rate of 98.95 percent.
ARTA director-general Ernesto Perez said in a forum on the Ease of Doing Business organized by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) on March 5, 2025 that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) received the most complaints from companies and businesses.
“Previously, the Land Transportation Office [LTO] and the Social Security System [SSS] were the subjects of numerous complaints, but both have shown significant improvement,” he said.
A major concern raised was the delay in processing applications, particularly for critical emergency medicines needed for public health.
Perez said ARTA already issued show-cause orders to evaluators responsible for these delays, and was awaiting responses.
A significant point is the FDA’s decision to exclude pre-assessment from the standard processing time.
Perez said pre-assessment should be included in the agency’s end-to-end process and subject to a maximum processing time of three days.
“We recently held a workshop with the FDA team and will be formally recommending that pre-assessment be included in their citizen charter,” he said.
ARTA said it had been assisting the FDA in updating its citizen charter and in supporting amendments to streamline processes.
