The Philippine Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) have signed a joint memorandum circular (JMC) enjoining all cities and municipalities in the country to streamline business permits and licensing system (BPLS) using a revised standard.
Under the new JMC, local government units (LGUs) are directed to streamline their BPLS, cutting down processing time to two days for new business registration and one day for renewals. Previously, under a similar DTI and DILG instruction to LGUs in 2010, registration was five to 10 days and renewal was five days or less.
The number of procedures for registration has also been reduced to three steps at most for both new and renewing applicants from the previous maximum of five days.
All LGUs are also directed to use a unified form, both in print and electronic form, with only two signatories (mayor and treasurer/business permits and licensing head with alternate approving signatories) required for business permits.
The circular also recommends LGUs automate and computerize business transactions to hasten frontline services. DICT has provided two knowledge products on its website to help cities and municipalities automate their business permitting system.
As of June 2016, majority of the LGUs across the country have complied with the 2010 DTI-DILG circular. According to the DILG-Local Government Academy, a total of 1,419 (93%) out of 1,516 LGUs (excluding those in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao) have completed the streamlining program.
The stricter guidelines for LGUs will mean more efficient and faster delivery of government services, the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) said in a statement.
The JMC also promotes streamlined procedures for securing fire safety inspection permits and provides for the setup of one-stop shops for business registration across cities and municipalities to complement the new BPLS standards. It likewise incorporates rules on the conduct of joint inspections to speed up the processing of registrations.
The Philippines ranks 103rd in the Ease of Doing Business Report published by World Bank-International Finance Corp. The country performed poorly in the “Starting a Business” indicator, slipping eight places to 165th from 157th in the previous year.
NCC said automating government transactions will bring substantial improvement to the speed and efficiency of services rendered, and enable LGUs to achieve one-day business registration. Also, it will significantly eliminate corruption in the bureaucracy by reducing personal or face-to-face interaction.
The council acknowledged, however, that other reforms need to be explored and considered to truly fast-track business permit processing. These include integrating the barangay clearance into the business permit process and extending the validity of fire safety inspection permits for non-critical or low-risk businesses to more than one year, subject to the Bureau of Fire Protection’s rules.
