Everyone knows that the Philippines has a huge Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) sector. According to Sen. Ralph Recto, that is an asset that should be tapped to increase the efficiency of essential services in the country – such as applying for passports and permits.
In a recent statement, Sen. Recto said the next administration should seriously consider having a 24-hour call centers. He said one idea for this would be to pool resources of 10 different government agencies so they can come up with a common government hotline for the public.
“If a refrigerator maker has a 24-hour helpline, why can’t a government agency, which earns more money from more clients, not maintain one?” asked Sen. Recto.
The senator believes that the general public will benefit from this type of service since they wouldn’t have to drop by several offices for their important transactions. For example, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) can use the hotline to get in touch with government agencies at the time of their convenience. They can quickly contact the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), Overseas Workers’ Welfare Administration (OWWA), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and other concerned offices as necessary.
In case it is impossible to pool resources in, Recto said the next president should still think about having 24-hour hotlines for agencies that deal with a big number of people every day.
Sen. Recto believes that the Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth) is “one good candidate” for this. “If HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations) can afford to maintain 24-hour call numbers, then PhilHealth certainly could,” said Recto.
Other agencies such as the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) and Land Transportation Office (LTO) should also be able to afford putting up call centers to streamline their process and make their services accessible for more people.
Sen. Recto further pointed out that although websites and apps can be helpful, “there are complicated queries that can only be answered by a human voice at the other end of the phone.”
via: philstar