By Nanette Guadalquiver/ PNA
BACOLOD CITY — Almost 17,000 business establishments in this city have renewed or registered their firms in the first month of 2019, records of the City Mayor’s Office-Permits and Licensing Division showed.
Division head Stela Rose Rayos said that as of Monday, the total registration has reached 16,994, which is 923 more than the 16,071 listed for the same period in 2018.
This shows an increase of 6 percent, she added.
Mayor Evelio Leonardia said in a statement that if the trend continues, Bacolod will have another record-breaking year in terms of business registration figures.
“This is very encouraging and we will pursue this to the hilt. We appeal to all concerned to help us achieve this,” the mayor said.
By the end of 2018, the annual business registrations in Bacolod totaled 23,187, which was about 5.33 percent higher than the 22,004 establishments registered in the entire 2017.
The 2017 figures are higher by 15.68 percent compared to the 19,021 approved permits in 2016.
From 2015 to 2018, business permits registration increased by 23.22 percent — from 18,817 to 23,187 by Dec. 31, 2018.
Leonardia said that as the city government continues to innovate and find ways and means to improve the ease of doing business, his administration will not only work to retain existing ones, but even attract new investments.
“This is the core of our intensified campaign to establish Bacolod as one of the ‘most business-friendly cities in the country,’” he added.
The city government has established the Business One-Stop-Shop, which runs from January to February, to encourage more investors to register their businesses.
This year, the one-stop-shop, which caters to the renewal of business permits and aimed at providing convenience and accessibility to taxpayers, runs until February 28 at the Bacolod City Government Center.
Business taxpayers who pay in full within the period can avail of a 10-percent discount.
