Asian Institute of Management Conference on

SMEs as a Major Force in Promoting Integrity and

Accountability in Business
Mandarin Hotel
1:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.
July 26, 2012, Thursday
Message
STREAMLINING PROCESSES FOR BUSINESS PERMITS
AND LICENSES
JESSE M. ROBREDO
Secretary, Department of the Interior and Local Government

Appropriate greetings
At his State of the Nation Address on Monday, the President
talked about economic development and poverty reduction.
The ongoing program by the Department to streamline the
Business Permits and Licensing System, or BPLS, is
designed to bring these twin goals to fruition.
The program aims to speed up the release of business
permits and licenses in cities and municipalities across the
country. This will bring us three things: more businesses,
more jobs, more growth.
This initiative is particularly beneficial to SMEs, for which the
Department is creating a nurturing environment conducive to
success, as we know full well this sectors pivotal role in
economic progress.

Basically, what the project is doing is removing the

impediments to the successful launch and development of
businesses by making it easier to acquire or renew business
permits. This is a gut issue with us, because most people still
believe getting a permit or license in the Philippines is a
tedious and expensive process.
Based on a recent nationwide government survey measuring
client satisfaction with the program, we are making huge
strides in eliminating bureaucratic red tape.
A Client Satisfaction Survey was conducted from January 11
to February 10, 2012 among almost 800 micro, small,
medium and large companies from 185 cities and
municipalities across the country.
Let me share with you the preliminary report on the survey
results:

Seventy percent (70%) of those surveyed said they

received their business permits in three days or less, while
another 17 percent acquired theirs within two hours.
Before, it usually took five or six days to renew
business permits and up to 10 days to secure new ones.
Fifty-seven percent (57%) of the businesses surveyed
went through five steps or less to secure their business
permits, which is the governments current standard.
The rest reported taking at least six steps, which shows
that theres still room for improvement in many LGUs.
Before the project, some cities and municipalities
required from eight to 10 signatures to approve and
release an annual business permit.
Now, 37% of businesses reported needing only two
signatures or less, 13% required three, and 50% still
needed four or more signatures.

A major progress is the reduction in the forms to be

filled out. Fifty percent (50%) of businesses polled said
that now they needed to fill out just one form, against 31%
who reported still using three or more forms in their
application.

But here's the most important part: 93% of the respondents

reported that they did not pay facilitation or grease money
to have their permits released early.
Such reports inspire us to redouble our efforts, because they
dispel the long-held perception that entrenched negative
government practices cannot be uprooted. With good
governance and an effective and efficient system in place,
change is not only possible, it is inevitable.
Nationwide, about 758 LGUs have already simplified their
procedures and operations for securing business permits
and licenses.
We are also ahead of schedule, with BPLS streamlining
completed in 480 pilot LGUs, two years ahead of our 2014
target.
But achieving 200% compliance with BPLS streamlining is
not enough. We need to raise our standards and enhance
our services, and this calls for moving to the next phase of
this projectautomation.

By going online, we are assured of fast, accurate and

transparent delivery of services.
Through a computer-based BPLS, a businessman is
afforded a systematic process for registering and renewing
his business permits and licenses with LGUs. It provides him
a more efficient alternative to the tedious manual processes
that require long waiting periods.
With just one click, a taxpayer can view his dues and
payments. This will help LGUs provide fast and efficient
information on billing and processing of payment of taxes
and fees.
Automation can also generate automatic computation of
mayors permit fees, business taxes and other fees including
reports such as master list of business establishments,
business tax collections, notice of delinquency, reports from
financial bureaus and agencies, among others.
Using computerized transactions proves convenient to the
public. It offers client accessibility features such as
downloadable application forms, online submission, and
updates on business application status.
These are just some of the positive results of what BPLS
automation can do to our localities.

When these reforms are in place, more investors will come to

put up their businesses in our country which will increase
income tax revenues, provide more employment and
livelihood opportunities to people and improve delivery of
services in the local levels.
This is our vision; this is our dream. And todays undertaking
is another great step towards achieving that vision.
Thank you.