The chairman of the House committee on appropriations on Friday hailed the passage of the bicameral conference committee’s approval of a measure that will relax rules that will govern the conduct of business transactions in the country.
Senators and congressmen consolidated House Bill 6579 and Senate Bill 1311, now titled “The Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.”
The measure seeks to amend Republic Act 9485, otherwise known as the “Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007.”
“Nothing attracts foreign investors to a country like having the government’s assurance that the processing and release of licenses and permits would be fast, hassle-free, and efficient. Even local businesses are bound to thrive with this new law in place,” said Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, the panel chairman.
Nograles was part of the House contingent in the bicameral conference committee that approved the consolidated version. He was also the principal author of HB 6579, which was approved on third and final reading by the House in November 2017.
The consolidated bill covers business-related transactions (and other transactions specified by the Act) from all government offices and agencies including local government units, government-owned or controlled corporations and other government instrumentalities, whether located in the Philippines or abroad.
“In a lot of ways, the spirit of the measure reflects the culture of efficiency that President Rodrigo Duterte promoted when he was still Davao City mayor. He has repeatedly said that it’s his pet peeve to see people standing in long queues, so it makes sense that he would want the same level of efficiency from all over the country,” Nograles said.
A key amendment being proposed is the “zero-contact policy” provision, which in the harmonized version is designated as Section 7.
The provision in the bill provides that “except during the preliminary assessment of the request and evaluation of sufficiency of submitted requirements, no government officer or employee shall have any contact, in any manner, unless strictly necessary with any applicant or requesting party concerning an application or request.”
“This provision minimizes the chance of corruption among government workers and ensures the prompt filing and processing of the applicants’ requirements from the get-go,” Nograles pointed out.
Among the salient features of the measure is to institutionalize streamlined procedures for the issuance of local business licenses, clearances, and permits under the entirely new Section 11.
Section 11 of the bill states that a single or unified business application form shall be used in processing new application or business permits and business renewals which consolidates all the information of the applicant or request party by various local government departments.
This covers local taxes and clearances, building clearance, sanitary permit, zoning clearance, and other specific local government unit requirements, including the fire clearance from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).
The Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act directs all LGUs to set up a one-stop business facilitation service or “business one stop shop.” It will receive and process manual and/or electronic submission of application for license, clearance, permit or authorization.
The business one-stop shop shall feature the co-location of the offices of the treasury, business permit and licensing office, zoning office, BFP, and other relevant departments engaged in starting a business or dealing with construction permits.
Under the measure, LGUs are mandated to automate their business permitting and licensing system or set up an electronic business one stop shop within a period of three years upon enactment.
“This will guarantee more efficient business registration processes,” Nograles noted. He said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) shall provide the LGUs with the software needed for the computerization of their business permit and licensing system.
To lessen the transaction requirements, other local clearances such as, but not limited to, sanitary permits, environmental and agricultural clearances shall be issued together with the business permit. The business permit shall have a validity of one year.
Meanwhile, barangay clearances and permits related to doing business shall be applied, issued, and collected by the city/municipality in accordance with the prescribed proceeding time of the Act, provided, that the share in the collections shall be remitted to the respective barangays.
The DICT is also tasked by the proposed statues to establish a central business portal and Philippine Business Databank for the purpose of eliminating red tape and avoiding graft and corrupt practices.
The central business portal shall serve as the central system to receive applications and capture application data involving business-related transactions, including primary and secondary licenses, and business clearances, permits or authorizations issued by LGUs.
On the other hand, the Philippine Business Databank shall provide the concerned government agencies and LGUs access to data and information of registered business entities for purposes of verifying the validity, existence of and other relevant information pertaining to business entities.
All concerned government agencies and LGUs shall either link their own database with the system or periodically submit to the system updates relevant to the information registered with them, Nograles said.
