By Erwin Nicavera/PNA
BACOLOD CITY — The total registered businesses in Negros Occidental increased by almost 17 percent in 2018, records of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) have showed.
Last year, there were 12,536 business names registered, from only 10,706 in 2017.
In 2018, the total number of registered businesses included 10,894 new enterprises and 1,642 renewals. In 2016, the list of registration included 7,562 enterprises.
Engiemar Tupas, senior trade and industry development specialist of DTI-Negros Occidental, said on Tuesday the increase in business registration can be mainly attributed to the establishment of Negosyo Centers in the province.
Since 2015, a total of 23 Negosyo Centers have been established in Negros Occidental.
These facilities are providing business name registration services aside from delivering entrepreneurial and business development interventions to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
Tupas said enterprise owners in some localities no longer need to go to the DTI provincial office in Bacolod to process their business name registration.
They can now do it through the Negosyo Centers nearest them, he added.
“Negosyo Centers have enabled the agency to bring its services closer to the people especially the MSMEs,” Tupas said.
The establishment of Negosyo Centers is provided under Republic Act 10644, or the Go Negosyo Act, to provide MSMEs the ease of doing business and facilitate access to grants and other forms of financial assistance, and shared service facilities, among others.
Tupas said the province’s growing economy and its business-enabling environment are driving up the creation of more enterprises.
“In effect, more enterprises result in generation of more employment in the province,” he added.
The DTI collects a registration fee of PHP215 from businesses within the barangays, and PHP515 for those in the cities and municipalities.
The fee is PHP1,015 for regional businesses, and PHP2,015 for those national in scope.
“Registrants are urged to register first with the DTI before proceeding to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and local government unit in processing their mayor’s permit,” Tupas said.
