NO WRONG DOOR POLICY

NO WRONG DOOR POLICY

My dear countrymen, according to Microsoft Copilot, “the No Wrong Door Policy is a service delivery approach designed to ensure that individuals seeking assistance are provided with the necessary support, regardless of which government office or agency they initially contact. Under this policy, clients should not be turned away or referred to another agency without first receiving some level of assistance. The goal is to provide a seamless and integrated service experience, making it easier for individuals to access the help they need”.

Also, according to Copilot, “the No Wrong Door Policy originated in Singapore in 2004. The policy was introduced by the Singapore Public Service to ensure that members of the public do not get referred from one agency to another when they have an issue for the government to resolve. Instead, the agency that receives the query or feedback should identify the responsible agency and put the person in touch with them. The policy aims to provide a seamless and integrated service experience, making it easier for individuals to access the help they need without being passed around between different agencies”.

The good news is, the NWD policy was already adopted by the Philippine government in 2016, by virtue of Executive Order No. 2, also known as the “Freedom of Information Order” (FOI). The bad news is, most government agencies appear to have ignored it, except for the DTI and the PCOO. The PCOO was eventually reorganized into the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS) in 2022, but I have no information whether it is still adopting the policy or not. If not, it may have fallen victim into the transition from one administration to another, even if it is such a good idea.

I really do not know how the NWD policy got tangled into the bigger web of the FOI order, but that being the case, it seems to be a good time now to renew calls for the passing of the FOI concept into law, and while doing that, we might as well include provisions for the NWD policy to become part of the proposed law. At this point, it would be worthwhile to note that in so many occasions, President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. has been calling on government agencies to honor the personal data of citizens as it is collected and presented from one agency to another. Although it is generally known as “data portability” and “single-sign-on” in computer parlance, President Marcos sounds like he is advocating the NWD policy.

Although it might sound like a long shot, the NWD policy appears to be closely related to the “Whole of Government” (WOG) approach that is also being advocated by Marcos. What that probably means is that the whole government is just one entity, and it should not only act as one, but it should also serve as one. Truth to tell, there are many among our countrymen who could not differentiate the functions of one agency from another, and because of that, they would tend to wrongly approach one wrong agency or another. That could even be a problem if they are short of transportation money, which means it would be difficult for them to move on to the correct agency. In that case, the NWD policy could be useful to them. Your friend, IKE SENERES/12-01-24/visit my blog senseneres.blogspot.com

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