The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) are calling on target groups to integrate their services in the Central Business Portal (CBP).
The groundwork is being laid down for the business processing mapping of all permits and licenses involved in the entire business cycle that will be integrated in the CBP.
In a meeting with the CBP Technical Working Group (TWG) on Oct. 21, ARTA Director-General Sec. Jeremiah Belgica welcomed the increasing number of government agencies and local government units connected to the CBP.
However, he said all targeted agencies and groups must connect to the CBP for a truly seamless experience.
Data show that six primary agencies and one secondary agency are already connected to the CBP. At least 17 local government units are also integrated into the platform, meaning that the forms that applicants will need to accomplish are already pre-filled with data that they have submitted before. Around 267 LGUs are also hyperlinked to the CBP.
From January to Oct. 19 this year, at least 287 corporations have registered with the CBP.
Among the additional features available in the CBP is the end-to-end registration for all types of corporations and registration for sole proprietorship.
Trade and Industry Sec. Ramon Lopez thanked the members of the CBP TWG for coming together for the “game-changing” project.
“It’s very inspiring to see all these members of different government agencies coming together to make this a reality, para padaliin ang buhay ng ating mga kababayan,” said Lopez, who is also the chairman of the Ease of Doing Business and Anti-Red Tape (EODB-ART) Advisory Council. “It’s very exciting, everything online.”
The CBP is a single digital platform for registering businesses in the country that ARTA established through a partnership with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and other key agencies.
Its creation is a major provision in Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
Through the establishment of the CBP, the number of days for registering businesses was reduced from 33 days and 13 steps to only seven days and one step. ARTA is aiming to further reduce this period to a single day by the end of President Duterte’s term.
During his sixth and final State of the Nation Address (SONA) on July 26, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte lauded the CBP and expressed hope that the next administrations will continue using the platform. (ARTA) – jlo