By Aerol John Pateña/Philippine News Agency
MANILA — An online system that would expedite the application process for business registration, in compliance with the Ease of Doing Business Act, is being developed, an official of the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) said.
“In terms of the business portal, its initial functionality is for registering a business, to operate a business entity. It takes so many days before somebody goes from the idea of starting a business to actually implementing it,” DICT Undersecretary Denis Villorente said in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Wednesday.
Villorente said the law mandates the department to create a Central Business Portal, which would serve as a system to receive applications and data involving business-related transactions including primary and secondary licenses, business clearances, permits, certificates or authorizations issued by local government units (LGUs).
It may also provide links to the online registration or application systems established by national government agencies.
“He just has to file the application one time with all the information about his business and it gets processed by all the government agencies involved. That will facilitate both the application process and reduce the time to start a business itself,” he added.
The DICT will coordinate with the Department of Trade and Industry and the Anti-Red Tape Authority to lay out the mechanism for the portal’s implementation.
An online-based Philippine Business Data Bank will also be established and managed by the DICT. It shall provide government agencies and LGUs access to data and information of registered business entities to verify their validity, existence, and other relevant information.
President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed in May last year Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business Act, which aims to reduce red tape and expedite business and non-business related transactions in government.
Under the law, simple transactions of business entities with the government should be processed within three days, seven days for more substantial transactions, and 20 days for highly technical transactions.
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