11 November 2020 via MS Teams
[Acknowledgements]Ladies and gentlemen, magandang umaga po sa inyong lahat.
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) fully supports the whole-of-government approach in providing a more conducive business environment for the private sector during the “New Normal.”
In partnership with the LGUs, DTI believes that by helping Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) via improved ease of doing business would bolster the post-pandemic economic recovery of local government units (LGUs) as well. After all, greater ease of doing business in LGUs would make them more competitive, help local enterprises to grow, and attract investments. This, in turn, would create more business, jobs, and economic activities in the respective local areas, leading to more prosperity for the locals, and even leading to appreciation in land values and LGU revenues.
During the community quarantine lockdown to address the spread of COVID-19, Filipinos took to set up their own businesses to support themselves. As of November 4 of this year, Business Name Registration (BNR) reached 839,444 as compared to 637,690 for the whole year of 2019, or an increase of 32%. This resulted in gross registration revenues amounting to Php475.2M for 2020 to date, a 38% increase from the total 2019 level. Meanwhile, registration of online businesses jumped from 1,753 for January until March 15 of this year, to 82,870 from March 15 to November 4.
DTI’s end-to-end Business Name Registration System (BNRS)—which we launched last November 2019—more than likely encouraged our people to establish their own business even with the lockdown preventing them to go out.
The digitizing and streamlining of our BNR process was mandated under Republic Act (RA) No. 11032, or the “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.” This also follows the directive of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte that our people should not have to suffer and wait in line to seek government help.
Under the EODB Act, GovTech or government technology would fast-track the elimination of red tape in the bureaucracy, even as it makes government services more customer-centric for our people. Streamlining and automation is the only way to move forward. By making government service accessible via smartphone or computer, GovTech is the ultimate form of EODB.
Aside from establishing the end-to-end BNRS, DTI has been improving the system’s processing time when we made our system online. BNRS processing takes only around 8-10 minutes end to end.
We’ve also made more e-payment options available at our BNRS through the Landbank Link.Biz portal as of the third quarter of 2020. This portal provides applicants with more online payment choices—such as GCash and Paymaya—while also accepting cash payments via DTI tellers.
Before the pandemic, DTI had partnered with the City of Paranaque in August 2019 to support their Project Express Lane Operation (or Project ELO) in simplifying and integrating the city’s licensing process. Under this partnership, DTI will aid the city in verifying business name registrations to reduce the required documentary submissions when people apply for business permits. In the same manner, DTI is willing to partner with other LGUs in facilitating business name registrations and/or improving their systems as part of improving ease of doing business.
Lastly, DTI has been helping to draft the Joint Memorandum Circular (JMC) on the “Guidelines for Processing Business Permits, Related Clearances and Licenses in the New Normal in All Cities and Municipalities.”
In conclusion, DTI remains committed in assisting our LGUs to improve ease of doing business to aid them on their post-pandemic journey to recovery. What’s more, DTI supports the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) in initiating whole-of-government efforts toward a GovTech revolution in the country.
In doing so, we will help to create more jobs and businesses that would empower our people so that they can give themselves a better and more comfortable quality of life, as envisioned by our President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
Maraming salamat po at mabuhay tayong lahat.♦
Date of Release: 11 November 2020