GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The city government here has adopted an enhanced business permits and licensing system to further fast-track the processing and issuance of local business permits.
Geraldine Zamora, chief of the Business Permits and Licensing Division (BPLD), said Thursday they have improved their online system to simplify the processing of documents and other requirements for the renewal and application of new business permits.
Dubbed eTRACS, the new system mainly facilitates the faster movement of documents in various local government offices involved in the processing of business permits, she said.
The online system, which was developed by the city’s information and communication technology division, formally rolled out Thursday with the start of the annual renewal and application of business permits that will run until January 20.
Zamora said the system is a component of its streamlined business permits and licensing process, which adopted the tagline FAST or Friendly, Accessible, Simple, Timely.
The process, which was launched in 2018, was mainly cut down to just three steps from the previous 15, which took at least two or three days to complete.
With its rollout last year, she said they were able to complete the processing of business permits in just several hours.
“This time, with the new eTRACs in place, we’re targeting the processing time to be even lesser — about two hours or even less,” she told reporters in an interview.
With the start of the processing period, the city government opened anew a one-stop shop at the Investment Center building here.
The BPLD, City Treasurer’s Office and the Office of the Building Official, which are among the key offices involved in the processing of business permits, are all housed at the Investment Center.
Zamora said they have put up desks for other involved offices and agencies, such as the Bureau of Fire Protection, Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Pag-IBIG Fund, City Health Office, and Waste Management Office.
The one-stop shop will cater to clients from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. but will be open until 8 p.m. for the processing of documents, she said.
As in previous years, she said the local government will not likely extend the January 20 deadline for the renewal and application of business permits.
“We’re currently considering the possible extension of our office hours, depending on the volume of applications coming in,” she added.
