RMO No. 17-2014: Prescribes additional policies, guidelines and procedures in the implementation of the Mobile Revenue Collection Officers System and imposes applicable sanctions/penalties for violations thereof

Key points

1. Rating for inactive users. Collecting officers (RCOs, SRCOs and COs) who received a Collection Officer’s Receipting Device (CORD) and are inactive or irregular users get a performance rating not higher than UNSATISFACTORY. This covers the semester when the CORD was assigned and every rating period after. The Order lists conditions that count as unutilized or irregular use, such as never requesting access, never logging in, using it only briefly, or alternating e-receipts and manual receipts without the Revenue District Officer’s approval.
2. Show-Cause Letter. Inactive or irregular users get a Show-Cause Letter and must explain in writing, with documentary evidence, why they should not be rated UNSATISFACTORY or BELOW. Offices validate the justifications and report the results to the Commissioner.
3. Desktop PC access. The enhanced MRCOS Web-Application lets users at Revenue District Offices use the desktop PC instead of the CORD to encode payments and returns, issue e-receipts and generate the List of Collections. Once rolled out, they can no longer merely stamp “RECEIVED” on no-payment and non-cash returns without an e-Acknowledgement Receipt. Upon full implementation, bonded collecting officers can no longer issue manual receipts, and unused RORs and ORs are surrendered to the RDOs, with no buffer stock allowed.
4. Temporary manual receipts. Manual receipts are allowed only if all of the following are present: the CORD is unavailable and certified so with a Help Desk Issue Management Log Number, the user is assigned in a municipality far from the district office, and the Head of Office or RDO authorized it in writing. When the CORD is available, the collecting officer encodes the manual receipts and generates e-Receipts.
5. Weak Telco connectivity. Weak or no connectivity is not an excuse for not using the CORD, since it can issue e-Receipts offline. Officers in such municipalities report physically to the district office to upload data, daily if very near, weekly if about a day’s round trip away, and monthly if on island municipalities or very far. This applies only where connectivity is perennially a concern, subject to prior validation by the concerned RDC.
6. Supervisors. The Assistant Regional Director, Revenue District Officer or Head of Office, and Chief, Collection Section monitor CORD use. If they fail to monitor or act on continued defiance, they also receive a rating no higher than UNSATISFACTORY.

Who is affected

• Revenue Collection Officers
• Special Revenue Collection Officers
• Collection Officers
• Revenue District Officers and supervising collection heads

Deadlines and effectivity

• Rating cap covers the semester of CORD assignment and every rating period after
• Upload frequency: daily, weekly or monthly depending on distance
• Issued April 15, 2014