Davao City – The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Davao Region has called on enterprises, especially those under sole ownership or proprietorship, to register their business names first prior to processing their permits with the local government units (LGUs). 

January is a busy month for businesses since this is the time when they renew their permits in order to operate continuously. Meanwhile, the business name registration (BNR) with DTI is valid for five years.  

DTI 11 Regional Director Maria Belenda Q. Ambi said that the business name certificate from DTI is among the requirements in getting a business permit. She emphasized, though, that this does not give its holders yet the license to do business. 

“The BNR gives the business owners the authority to use the name they want to reflect on their receipts and other business transactions. However, we would like to emphasize that this is not yet enough to start operating their business. They still need to apply and process their business permit with the concerned barangay or LGU. Once approved and available, that’s the only time they can already do business,” she noted. 

In the meantime, Ambi shared that the applicants’ preferred business or trade name is not approved automatically. The application still needs to undergo verification according to the provisions and guidelines based on the Philippine Business Name Law. 

“There are certain words that are not allowed in the business name. So, our BN verifiers have to assess the applications first before they can process them. This is why we require applicants to provide three possible business names according to their order of preference. Our BN verifiers will check first the number 1 preferred name for availability and adherence to guidelines. If it can’t pass, they will check the second, then the third options,” the local trade official said. 

Meanwhile, Ambi said that those businesses categorized as a partnership or a corporation can register their trade name with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

In 2021, DTI 11 processed and issued a total of 21,787 business name certificates. Although there is a decrease of 5.14 percent last year compared to 2020’s 22,967, Ambi said that this is only minimal. She revealed that BNR remained to be on top in terms of the number of permits and licenses that the office processed and issued regionwide in 2021.  

“Based on our annual data, we processed and issued a total of 23,359 permits and licenses last year, and the BNR comprised 93.27 percent of these. We can say, therefore, that despite the pandemic, many people have continued to do business. In fact, this is still at par with our pre-pandemic accomplishment,” Ambi said while citing that in 2019, DTI 11 issued 22,676 BNR certificates. 

The regional chief of DTI encouraged the public to maximize the online facility in registering their business name. They may access it through https://bnrs.dti.gov.ph/registration. They can also communicate with the Facebook page DTI Region 11 for more information or for any inquiries. ♦

Date of Release: 27 January 2022