GENERAL SANTOS CITY — The city government honored over the weekend the first 50 taxpayers that processed and renewed their business permits during the 20-day annual registration in January.
Geraldine Zamora, chief of the city’s business permits and licensing division, said Monday the “early birds” received plaques of appreciation from the local government in a ceremony held at the Venue Ameliyah’s here.
She said the awardees were led by the Catapang Heights Waterworks Association, which was the first entity to secure a business permit this year.
“This is our way of thanking our taxpayers for taking the initiative to process and secure their business permits early,” she said in a statement.
Zamora urged the awardees to continue supporting the local government’s initiatives, especially the ongoing reforms in its Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS).
The city government launched an enhanced BPLS during the annual registration and renewal of business permits last January.
The streamlined system mainly allowed the issuance of business permits within the day and even less.
From the previous 15 steps, which usually take two to three days to complete, the city government has cut down the process to just three to fast track the issuance of business permits.
City Mayor Ronnel Rivera said the local government is continually reviewing its systems to further enhance business processing in the city in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Strengthening Urban Resilience for Growth with Equity or Surge program.
“We are committed in doing improvements to make the delivery of services faster. Hopefully we can be able to improve our BPLS further in the next coming years,” he said.
The mayor said the move is anchored on the city government’s commitment to improve the business enabling environment in the area.
He added that an improved BPLS will result to better competitiveness for the city in attracting business and investments. (PNA)
