QUEZON CITY — On Monday, 17 July 2023, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Fred Pascual and Quezon City Mayor Ma. Josefina “Joy” Belmonte signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the DTI and the Quezon City Government to integrate DTI’s Business Name Registration System (BNRS) with Quezon City LGU’s Online Unified Business Permit Application System (OUBPAS).

DTI proposed the integration, which aims to further streamline the procedures and requirements of LGUs through the automatic verification of the Business Name (BN) registration System.

With this, the submission of the Business Name Registration (BNR) certificate to the LGU will no longer be required, which lessens documentary burden for those intending to start a business.

In his message, DTI Secretary Pascual said, “The Quezon City Government is the first Local Government Unit (LGU) which agreed to our proposal to integrate the two systems.  With this, we thank Mayor Joy Belmonte for partnering with us in making doing business in Quezon City easier. We reached out to several cities to propose this system integration initiatives and we are happy that more are scheduled in the pipeline.”

The MOA covers data sharing and system integration technical provisions between the DTI and the Quezon City Government. Likewise, the simplified process and automatic verification is consistent with the objectives of Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) Law.

Secretary Pascual also took the opportunity to share with the City Government officials one of the biggest achievements of the Marcos Administration in terms of promoting ease of doing business, Executive Order No. 18 (EO 18) Constituting Green Lanes for Strategic Investments, which was officially launched last week, with Sun Asia being the first beneficiary of the green lane.

Further, Secretary Pascual ensured the public that the DTI and the Quezon City Government shall make sure that all sensitive personal information maintained by the government, its agencies, and instrumentalities shall be secured through the use of the most appropriate standards recognized by the information and communications technology industry.

Under the MOA, the DTI is committed to do the following: (1) Provide all data and information not otherwise privileged or confidential, as enumerated in the existing Application Programming Interface (API) Document relative to business name registration; (2) Work closely with the LGU regarding the customization of its technical specification and requirements; (3) Crosscheck the veracity of data and information relating to business name registration appearing in its system with that of the LGU; and (4) Report to the LGU the business establishments whose business name registration has expired as appearing in DTI’s system for appropriate action.

In closing, Secretary Pascual said, “We at DTI have been working hard to bring in greater investments that will generate higher quality and better-paying jobs for the Filipino people. And for this to happen, we need to work together to create a healthy and favorable business environment for our potential investors.”

The Ceremonial Signing was also attended by DTI Undersecretary Ireneo V. Vizmonte, DTI Assistant Secretary Mary Jean Pacheco, Quezon City Vice Mayor Gian Sotto, and other officials of the Quezon City Government. ♦

Date of release: 19 July 2023

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