Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — When President Rodrigo Duterte said in his first State of the Nation Address that all local governments should “reduce to the barest minimum” the time needed to process business permits and licenses, he could have had Quezon City in mind as a good example.
Bonifacia Chua, who applied for a business permit for her small carenderia on Wednesday, got it in just two hours. She said it took her three weeks to get the same permit five years ago.
“Madali naman sila mag-asikaso sa amin,” she told CNN Philippines while waiting for her permit to be released.
[Translation: They have speeded up their processes for us.]
The fast processing of permits and licenses should ease doing business in the country and attract more job-creating investments, including those from small entrepreneurs like Chua, who is starting off with just P10,000 to put up her carenderia.
“Para sa kabuhayan naming mag-ina,” she told CNN Philippines.
[Translation: This is for my family’s livelihood.]
The National Competitiveness Council (NCC) has rated Quezon City as the country’s most competitive Highly Urbanized City in 2016 because of the ease of doing business in the country’s largest city. The NCC is a public-private sector task force that aims to promote a more competitive environment for businesses and local governments.
Garry Domingo, head of the city’s Business Permits and Licensing Office, said the processing time for permits could even be shortened to 30 to 45 minutes if an applicant submits all the necessary documents and other requirements to open a business.
He said the city has reduced the number of requirements from 11 to four over the past four years and it takes only three steps to get a permit, down from the previous eight. Also, the signatures of only two officials are needed on just one business permit application form, cutting the red tape.
City Administrator Aldrin Cuña said the local government also benefits from faster services.
“Mas-mataas iyong revenue collection efficiency naming, and number two, mas kakaunti na ngayon ang galit sa pila,” he said.
[Translation: We have raised our revenue collection efficiency, and number two, fewer people are irritated by the queues.]
But challenges remain, he said.
Cuña said some provisions of the Local Government Code hamper business operation, citing one that requires the renewal of all business permits within the first 20 days of the year.
For a city with a population of about 3 million and nearly 70,000 business establishments, such a requirement is a huge burden.
He said it is “physically impossible” for the city government to process permits for about 68,000 registered business establishments during that short period.
Cuña said Congress should amend the Local Government Code to help streamline business licensing.
The city government, he said, is also looking at automating the submission of requirements to speed up business permit processing to cut waiting time.
