THE newly-formed Investment Ombudsman (IO) Mindanao Team is set to meet with three Davao City Government offices today, Wednesday, to reveal the results of their Red Tape assessment, which was conducted in October.

Office of the Ombudsman-Mindanao public assistance center head Maria Corazon Arancon, who is part of the IO Mindanao Team, said they recently concluded the Red Tape assessment on the City Engineer's Office, City Agricultural Office and the Office Senior Citizens Affairs and they are set to meet with the agency's heads today for an exit conference to reveal the results.

"There were a total of seven personnel who conducted the assessment and three people from Manila came to assist us. So what we did is we went to the offices and we observed and studied the flow of their offices. So we are going to meet with the department heads for an exit conference on Thursday," Arancon said.

She said the assessment is intended to determine the delays in the issuance of permits and other services. But she said their assessment is not to litigate the officials of the offices but rather provide recommendations on how to integrate their system for effective delivery of services.

"We had an orientation with the different department heads with the help of the Atty. Melchor Quitain, the city administrator. We told them that we are not here to find fault in their system. It is all with the good intention of improving their system," Arancon said.

She also said that once they have bared the results and their recommendations to the concerned agencies, they will monitor the offices to ensure that their performance will be consistent.

On another note, she said they are set to conduct the blue certificate assessment on the different local government units in Cagayan and Gensan on January next year.

Arancon said the blue certificate assessment also has the same intentions that of the red tape assessment but more focused on the business aspect.

Deputy Ombudsman for Mindanao Rodolfo Elman, for his part, said the creation of the Investment Ombudsman Teams in June earlier this year was by virtue of Office Order 327.

The IO teams have been formed to address the grievance of investors against business-related public offices and the speedy resolution of their complaints.

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