The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) seeks the intervention of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to help streamline the regulatory functions of the Bureau of Plan Industry (BPI) for the sake of the agri-food stakeholders.
PCCI president George Barcelon said their agriculture cluster’s sentiments were consistent with the group’s goal of automating their services for business continuity and efficiency.
Barcelon also said the business community was optimistic that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will sustain ARTA’s reform programs to ensure sustained business confidence and trust in the government.
“The PCCI commends ARTA for having accomplished quite a number of milestones that really benefitted the business community. We are happy that ARTA and PCCI have a strong partnership in implementing these policy reforms in the government,” Barcelon said.
He also said PCCI supports the National Effort for the Harmonization of Efficiency Measures of Interrelated Agencies (NEHEMIA) program of ARTA, meant to address overregulation and promote interconnectivity among government agencies to eliminate redundant processes has yielded positive results.
Among ARTA’s notable accomplishments that greatly benefitted the business sector were in the areas of telecommunication and connectivity, food and pharmacology, logistics and housing, and construction.
The ARTA has released three joint memorandum circulars (JMCs) aimed at expediting the building of telco towers by reducing the number of permits from 13 to just eight, the documentary requirements from 86 to 15, and the length of time for processing from the usual 241 days to only 16 days.
The ARTA also established the green lane for licenses and authorizations that enabled pharmaceutical companies to put up local manufacturing facilities within 10 months.
Another notable initiative of ARTA is the automation of processes and the use of the Unified Rapid Pass (ULP) to dramatically reduce the steps required from 209 to 24, and the length of processing time from 271 days to 35 days.
Payment of fees for the accreditation or registration with different entities will also be made under a single window or through a business one-stop shop.
Barcelon said that ARTA proactively acted on the concerns of various stakeholders relative to the congestion at the Matnog Port in Sorsogon by considering the adoption of an online booking system to resolve the issue.
ARTA oversees the implementation of the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) and cuts red tape that prolongs business accreditation and similar processes.