KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/10 Jan.) — The city government is planning to establish a permanent one-stop shop for business registrations and other related licensing transactions as it moves to attract more trade and investment ventures in the area.
Gilbert Gayosa, city permit and licensing section chief, said studies are now underway for the opening of a year-round one-stop shop at the city hall complex that will cater to various permitting and licensing needs of the business sector.
He said the move was personally pushed by City Mayor Peter Miguel as a strategy to further promote the city as a “business-friendly” area.
“Once implemented, it will be a big come-on for the city in terms of luring more major investments and business locators,” he said.
Gayosa said the proposed year-round business one-stop shop will take off from a similar initiative that is launched every January by the city government.
He said the one-stop shop gathers various offices of the city and national government that are involved in the issuance and processing of business registrations, renewals, retirement or termination and other related permits and licenses.
These include the Office of the City Mayor, City Engineering Office, City Planning and Development Coordinating Office, City Environment and Natural Resources Office, City Health Office, City Treasurer’s Office and Office of the City Administrator, Bureau of Fire Protection, Philippine National Police, Social Security System, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of Trade and Industry, Pagibig Fund, Philippine Health Insurance Corporation and barangay councils.
The business one-stop shop, which features simplified business registration and renewal processes, opened at the city hall lobby last January 2 and will be operational until January 20.
Gayosa said the one-stop shop processed and issued around 1,500 business permits or licenses last year and they are targeting the same figure for this year.
As of Wednesday, he said they already released 150 business permits but around 1,000 applications were already entered into their system.
The city ranked sixth last year in the country’s top 10 most competitive cities and second in the list of three most competitive cities in terms of economic dynamism.
The ranking was made by the National Competitiveness Council based on the 2013 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index, a tool used to measure the competitiveness of localities in the country.
The index provides potential investors with information on how cities and municipalities are faring in terms of cost and ease of doing business.
The local government units were graded based on three categories: economic dynamism, governance efficiency, and infrastructure.
In 2010, the city was also adjudged as one of the country’s most business-friendly cities and was the most business-friendly city in Mindanao in 2005 and 2006.
It came out as one of the top three most competitive small-sized cities in the Philippines in 2005 and the number one in the same category in 2003. (MindaNews)