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Friday, March 29, 2024

New Manila system gets biz listed in 30 minutes

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To make the City of Manila more conducive to business, Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has introduced a new registration and licensing system where business owners and new investors could process their Mayor’s Permit in 30 minutes, guaranteed.

Estrada introduced the new scheme at the start of the annual business permit application and renewal this January, which resulted in increased collection of business taxes and fees by the city government.

“There is no reason to make business owners and investors line up before they could do business here in Manila. They would be discouraged if they find it difficult to start a business here,” Estrada said.

While his administration has significantly eased the process of starting up businesses in Manila since he assumed office in 2013, Estrada pointed out he wants to come up with more programs and policies to attract more investors.

In 2015, the National Competitiveness Council recognized the City of Manila as the most competitive highly urbanized city, dethroning Makati City, which won in 2014.

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It was a recognition of Manila’s various achievements in infrastructure development, social services, health, education, ease of doing business, and environmental protection, among others.

Lawyer Fortune Mayuga, chief of the city’s Bureau of Permits, said the new system introduced by Estrada has received positive feedback from local business owners.

Under the new scheme, business owners and new investors could process and get their Mayor’s Permit in 30 minutes or less, because the Bureau of Permits has integrated the payment of Fire Safety Inspection Certificate, Zoning Permit, Sanitary Permit, garbage fees, and others, in one window.

“Unlike before, you had to go first to different offices and windows to apply for and pay for permit fees, now you just queue at one window, one cashier. Only one queueing for all,” Mayuga explained.

During the previous years, she said it would take hours to complete the transaction and secure a Mayor’s Permit (business permit), which, most of the time, could not even be processed in one day because of long lines at the BFP office and other city hall departments.

“But now, if you have the money, you can finish it in 30 minutes, or less,” Mayuga assured.

The new system also discouraged the illegal operations of fixers, she added. “If you can do it in 30 minutes, why get a fixer?” Mayuga said.

Since 2014, more business establishments opened in Manila, resulting in a steady increase of income from taxes and business fees, according to Mayuga.

In 2015, there were 6,743 new businesses in the city, and 9,165 in 2016, she pointed out. 

Overall, there were a total of 54,242 new and renewed Mayor’s Permits that were issued in 2016 compared to about 53,000 in the previous year, Mayuga added.

“Last year, our office had a 10 to 15 percent increase in income, so we can say that business must be good here in Manila because investors keep coming,” the Bureau of Permit chief pointed out.

Apart from regular businesses such as restaurants, hotels, condominiums, stores and shops, among others, Mayuga revealed that local and international banks such as BDO, BPI, Metrobank, and Chinabank recently put up more branches in the city.

In the last three years, Mayuga added several big BPO firms also opened in Manila, when in the past years, they were concentrated in the cities of Makati, Taguig, and Pasig.

Based on the Cities and Municipalities Competitive Index of NCC, there were 45,013 approved business registrations in the City of Manila from January to March 2015 and 45,996 from January to March 2016.

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