Duterte’s first SONA, one year later: 8888, the citizens’ complaint hotline

Every State of the Nation Address is both a look back and a look ahead—to the President's accomplishments the previous year, and to what he or she plans to do next.

When President Rodrigo Duterte delivered his first SONA on July 25, 2016, he had only been in office for less than a month. However, many of the issues he talked about were already familiar to Filipinos as being close to his heart, thanks to the presidential campaign and his long tenure as Davao City mayor.

GMA News Online looks at some of the issues he discussed in his first SONA, and what the administration is doing to address them.

The Social Security System and the local government of Quezon City have received the most number of reports related to the Anti-Red Tape Act during the first 10 months of the Duterte administration’s 8888 Citizen's Complaint Hotline.

For government agencies, the SSS topped the list both in the period from August to December 2016 and from January to June 2017, based on a report obtained by GMA News Research from the Civil Service Commission.

The Land Transportation Office came in second for both periods.

Quezon City topped the list for local government units. It was followed by the City of Manila.

The CSC report did not include the concerns of the callers specific for these agencies.

However, the top two most callers who reported ARTA concerns complained about “slow process” and “unclear procedures.” “Extortion” and “fixing activities” were also reported.

For the first 10 months of the 8888 hotline, it received a total of 149,294 calls or an average of 498 calls a day.

Calls that were eventually processed or ticketed fell into five categories: query, complaint, request for assistance, suggestion, and commendation/appreciation.

Only 44,096 out of 54,743 calls were processed in 2016.

Meanwhile, 8888 hotline center received 94,551 calls in the first half of 2017, but only 71,646 were processed.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Friday told errant government workers who were named through the 8888 hotline that he would talk to them and eventually ask them to kneel before the public and promise to provide better services next time.

Re-launch

GMA News Online has also learned that the Duterte administration is planning to re-launch the complaint hotline.

"We are on the verge of re launching 8888 in Malacañang," Office of the Cabinet Secretary spokesperson Jonas George Soriano said in a text message. "Trainings have already been conducted after the necessary hardware and software were sourced, final protocols are still being ironed out and we hope to do the launching after the series of pre operating tests have been done,."

While it was launched in August 2016 along with the 911 emergency hotline, the 8888 complaint hotline was institutionalized on October 2016 through Executive Order No. 6.

The EO stated that the Office of the Cabinet Secretary would be the lead agency that would supervise the complaint center. — BM, GMA News