Officers and members of the Makati Business Club commended Mayor Abigail Binay for making it easier to do business in the city through strategic reforms implemented at city hall.
In a round table meeting hosted by the MBC at the Ayala Tower One last Thursday, Ayala Corp. president and chief operating officer Fernando Zobel de Ayala expressed his appreciation for the efforts of Binay to improve Makati’s competitiveness.
“I commend Mayor Abby for easing doing business in Makati. Big improvement in terms of speed at which we can get our permits out, and I know this is one of the areas you are focusing on,” he said.
On the directive of Binay, the city’s Business Permits and Licensing Office has streamlined the process of renewal and application of new business permits to only three easy steps, so that applicants with complete requirements can be issued a business permit within 35 minutes.
MBC chairman Edgar Chua, president and chief executive officer of Cavitex Holding Corp., expressed the desire of the business community to have an active engagement with local government leaders, underscoring the important role of local governments in socio-economic development.
“We believe that the LGUs actually are the main drivers of business, education, job creation, and we want to see how the business community can work with local governments, how we can work together to organize projects especially in areas like ease in doing business, infrastructures, labor, and other issues,” he said.
Binay, for her part, welcomed the support of the business leaders of MBC and acknowledged their vital role in promoting Makati’s sustainable and inclusive growth.
“The lifeblood of the city is business tax; it is not real property tax. As of May 31, the city has attained 66 percent of its target collections from business tax and 95 percent of its target for real property tax,” she said.
The city chief executive also informed the group of the ongoing development of an enhanced business permit and licensing system or e-BPLS, a computerized system that will provide easy access to business permits through different platforms.
At the meeting, Binay also showed the MBC officers and members that Makati is well on its way to meeting its goal of becoming the country’s first certified Smart City. She apprised them of the progress made by the city government with a number of smart city initiatives undertaken with industry leaders through public-private partnerships.
These include the Makatizen Card, an all-purpose card that consolidates all health and social benefits for residents; the Makatizen App, the first-of-its-kind digital citizen app in the country that allows users to report crimes, emergencies, waste management concerns, and other issues; the Makati Public Wi-Fi System, which provides free internet connection to residents and visitors on certain periods daily; and the Makati Subway, the first intra-city mass transit in the Philippines that will create thousands of jobs and business opportunities for residents.
The other MBC executives present also expressed their support for the smart city initiatives of Mayor Binay’s administration, as well as her plans which are aimed to fast track Makati’s socio-economic progress and transformation into a full-fledged Smart City.
Binay also revealed plans to revise the city’s Zoning Ordinance to spur growth beyond the Makati Central Business District, and expressed support for more government participation in the expansion of business incubators in the city, particularly in the field of Information and Communications Technology.
The mayor assured MBC members that the city government would continue to pursue smart city initiatives to boost Makati’s economy and build a progressive and sustainable future for all Makati residents.
Also present at the meeting were Accenture Inc. Country Managing Director Manolito Tayag, Angara Abello Concepcion Regala & Cruz Law Offices Senior Partner Atty. Eusebio Tan, Angkas CEO and Co-Founder Angeline Tham, Angkas Public Affairs Head George Royeca, Capital Shares Investment Corp. Chairman Jesus Tambunting, Century Properties Management Inc. Chairman Jose Antonio, Globe Chief Commercial Officer Albert de Larrazabal, Golden Arches Development Corp. Founder and Chairman George Yang, Grab Strategy Head Anton Bautista, Ideaspace Executive Director Diane Estaquio, Investment and Capital Corporation of the Philippines Chairman and CEO Guillermo Luchangco.
Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Country Head Christophe Vicic, Kickstart Ventures President Minette Navarette, Lalamove Sales Head Jonathan Dizon, Makati Medical Center President and CEO Dr. Maria Corazon Consunji, Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC President and Managing Director Beaver Tamesis, Philippine Seven Corp. President and CEO Victor Paterno, Rockwell Land Corp. President and CEO Nestor Padilla, Santos Knight Frank Inc. Chairman and CEO Fredrick Santos, Shell Vice President for External Affairs Serge Bernal, SM Investments Corp. Senior Vice President Lizanne Uychaco, Sunlife Financial Holding Co. Inc. Chair Riza Mantaring, and uHoo CEO Dustin Onghanseng.
From January to May, collections from business tax reached P6.4 billion out of the P9.8-billion target, while real property tax payments generated P4.5 billion of the almost P4.8-billion goal for the year.
Records of the city’s Business Permits and Licensing Office show that 3,686 of the 3,800 applicants have been issued with locational clearances or zoning permits from January 1 to July 1, 2019. The same office has also inspected 607 new business establishments and of this number, 573 have been approved and endorsed for assessment.
During Binay’s first term, the city government institutionalized the “Business One-Stop-Shop” (BOSS) wherein the ground floor of the Makati City Hall Building II has been designated as a common site to process applications and payments and issue licenses, clearances, and permits.
Makati obtained the Commission on Audit’s “unqualified opinion,” the highest audit rating given by state auditors, for two years in a row now due to its fair and honest presentation of its financial statements.
To date, Makati is considered as the country’s richest local government unit after its assets reached P196.57 billion.