Not difficult

Egay Uy .

THE Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Communications and Information Technology, and the DILG came up with Joint Memorandum Circular No. 01, Series of 2016 revising the standards observed by local government units in processing applications for business permits and licenses.

This circular also requires the setting up of Business One Stop Shops in local government offices where business permit applicants can easily and expeditiously transact business.

More recently, the Congress passed Republic Act No. 11032 which promotes ease in doing business and efficient delivery of government services, amending in the process the Anti-Red Tape Act which is now renamed into “Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.”

Under this law, simple transactions with local governments must be completed within a specified number of working days, otherwise, the application will be deemed approved due to inaction, provided that all required documents are submitted.  The number of signatories is also limited to at most three instead of the usual five or more.

The 2016 JMC has already been implemented in the City of Cagayan de Oro since the first circular was issued by the DTI and DILG in 2010.  It gave birth to the Business One Stop Shop (Boss) whose manpower is still functioning in accordance with the objectives of the circular.  Now, it is gradually mutating into the provisions of RA 11032.

The City of Cagayan de Oro officially created its Joint Inspection Team as mandated by the joint circular.  This team is tasked to conduct inspections to verify on a yearound basis the completeness and veracity of the documents submitted at the point of application for business permits, and to check on or run after unregistered businesses.

Very soon, more inspection teams will be fielded to practically sweep specific areas and create a database of businesses and their respective statuses vis-à-vis their business permits and licenses, among other data.  At present, the existing inspection team conducts inspection at random.

While the law ensures that regulations pertaining to doing business will be easy to comply, the government must also take action to ensure that businesses operating in the locality are legitimate and compliant with established regulations.

The clincher may very well lie in how the barangay officials will perform their respective functions in the enforcement of local ordinances and other issuances that are applicable in their respective jurisdictions.  It is mandated under the Local Government Code anyway.

For one, all barangays can adopt a system of reporting to the Business Permit and Licensing Office of the City Government all barangay clearances issued to businesses operating within the barangays.  This will of great help to the city government in keeping track of compliance by registered businesses, and in requiring compliance by unregistered businesses.

This, coupled with the information by the barangay that barangay clearances are not business permits hence those doing business should nonetheless be required to secure their respective business permits from city hall, will ensure a generally-compliant business community all over.

For barangays to do their job as mandated by the local government code is not difficult to do.  Or is it?

(Lawyer Egay Uy is serving in the local price coordinating council and the Regulatory and Complaints Board.)