By Pat C. Santos
11/24/2010 [ tribune.net.ph ]
Acting Manila Mayor Isko Moreno yesterday led the launching of a courtesy lane at the Register of Deeds (RD) in Manila with a call for all other offices to follow suit.
With the setting up of such lane, Moreno said persons with disabilities (PWDs), expectant mothers and senior citizens, among others, will now have a more convenient time transacting with the RD.
Moreno lauded RD head, lawyer Marissa Timones, for coming up with the concept and expressed hope that all other establishments, both private and public, will do the same. The RD is under the Land Registration Authority (LRA).
Timones, he said, is completely in touch with the needs of those from the grassroots level since she was once a board member in Batangas.
Also present in the courtesy lane launch were Councilor Bernie Ang (3rd district), social welfare department assistant head Cely Sangil, Federation of Senior Citizens of Manila president Valeriano Concepcion and Mike Jimenez, coordinator of PWDs.
Ang, who himself suffers from a walking difficulty, said Timones’ idea is an indication of her genuine concern for people with special needs.
“PWDs definitely appreciate this program and hope that all government offices will have similar courtesy lanes,” Ang added.
According to Timones, the courtesy lane aims to ease the burden of queueing and waiting for the elderly, expectant mothers and PWDs, to include overseas Filipino workers, investors and balikbayans, by cutting the usual time for processing and release of documents.
For the purpose, she said designated examiners will be tasked to attend to the papers of the clients to expedite their processing.
“We constantly come up with innovations to serve our clientele better and, consequently, erase the negative impression that people have on the RD such as issues of corruption, missing titles, discourteous employees and inefficient servicing with the long waiting time before a transaction is completely processed,” Timones said.
Timones said when she assumed office three years ago, she had been initiating measures to erase the negative issues about RD by not tolerating fixers, speeding up the flow of transactions and giving priority to resolving issues on missing titles, aside from constantly training personnel on serving with utmost courtesy.
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