General Santos City—The city government is eyeing to serve over 9,000 businesses in the annual renewal and registration of business permits this month, which opened on Thursday.
Geraldine Zamora, head of the business permits and licensing division, said they established anew a one-stop-shop at the city’s Investment Center building to fast-track the processing and issuance of business permits.
Zamora said the local government has improved its business permits and licensing system to ensure that they meet their target until the end of the registration period on Jan. 20.
In the entire 2019, the city government issued a total of 11,438 business permits, covering new and existing businesses.
“Normally, around 80 percent of the registered business renews their permits during the period. So we’re expecting to cater that, plus the new business,” she told reporters.
Zamora said they started releasing the application forms for renewal and application of permits in the third week of December to speed up the process.
She said their clients may process their required documents at the one-stop-shop, which hosts various offices involved in the processing of permits: BPLD, City Treasurer’s Office, City Health Office, Office of the Building Official, City Assessor’s Office, Waste Management Office, City Planning and Development Office, and the Bureau of Fire Protection.
She said they have allotted spaces for the 26 barangay councils, which are required to issue clearances for all businesses, and that they have streamlined the processes and reduced the documentary requirements to facilitate the faster issuance of permits.
She said the basic requirements are barangay clearance, occupancy permit, zoning clearance, proof of ownership or lease contract for building or office, and certificates from the Department of Trade and Industry, Cooperative Development Authority and Securities and Exchange Commission.
Other requirements such as registrations with the Social Security System, Pag-IBIG Fund, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and the sanitary permit may be processed within 90 days.
Existing businesses with complete requirements may proceed with the assessment, billing and payment at the CTO, and the issuance of the permits at the BPLD.
“Last year, we were able to issue 92 percent of the business permits in just two hours and we’re continually working to further improve that,” Zamora said.