DUMAGUETE CITY – The Land Transportation Office (LTO)-Dumaguete District Office has been invited to compete for the Best Brigada Ahensya Award this year.
According to LTO-Dumaguete District Office chief Alberta Janine Lawas, the invitation was stated in a letter from Director Editha Luzano of the Civil Service Commission (CSC) in Region 7.
She said on Tuesday, she was hopeful that her office will bag awards in all four categories, as the LTO-Bayawan District Office in Bayawan City, Negros Oriental, which she also headed prior to her transfer to Dumaguete City, had won in three out of four categories last year.
The CSC honors outstanding government agencies and workers for their contributions to public service/exemplary performance in the government workplace each year during the observance of the Philippine Civil Service anniversary in September.
Lawas noted that the LTO-Dumaguete District Office has instituted measures and other projects to improve its operations and services to the people.
She said that these projects were implemented within the past three months or so since she assumed her current post last March 16.
Her first priority upon assumption of office was to install/improve air conditioning inside the office for clients transacting business with them as well as their employees, Lawas said.
“All air conditioning units were not in a good state when I arrived and init kayo ang atong interior (the interior was so hot) and we needed a cool and proper ventilation in the office. Now, we are fully air-conditioned,” she added.
Another project she embarked on was fixing the women’s comfort room that was out of order, because “it is a very basic necessity for our clients”, and now both the men’s and women’s comfort rooms are functioning, Lawas said.
The LTO-Dumaguete office staff also conducted a general cleaning of the office and surroundings just a few weeks into her assumption, to pave the way for a favorable workplace and environment.
For years, the public had noticed the unkempt surroundings such as piles of dried up leaves outside an old, unoccupied building next door, right across the provincial jail where the LTO-Dumaguete office is located.
Motorcycles and other vehicles that were impounded over the years in previous leaderships were also scattered in the perimeter areas, creating unsightly surroundings for the people transacting with the said office and even to passersby, according to Lawas.
“The internal and external aspects of cleanliness and orderliness in our office should be in place,” Lawas stressed.
She disclosed that in the absence of a vehicle impounding area, which is a “big problem” for the LTO-Dumaguete, she ordered the transfer of the very old impounded units to the back of the office, while the relatively new ones are arranged in an orderly fashion in an area next to her office.
“We are awaiting feedback from Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo, who had earlier promised to provide an impounding space for these units,” she further disclosed.
Other measures that Lawas had carried out include the landscaping of the facade and the glass tinting of the office, as it gets hotter in the afternoon, especially the area facing the west where the sun sets, she explained.
"The glass tinting is just one way to protect the people inside from the searing heat, but people outside can still see the interior, for transparency purposes," Lawas said.
On the other hand, she said that she has also reviewed the operational procedures and system within the LTO-Dumaguete office and improved those that needed to be in accordance with President Rodrigo Duterte’s mandate to fast-track government services.
A “satisfaction bell” is situated in a strategic location which a client is asked to ring if he or she is satisfied with the services of the LTO-Dumaguete, Lawas said.
“We have also erected two storage areas for old and unserviceable equipment and old records to make for fast and proper retrieval during inventory and audit,” she added. (PNA)
