City hall told: ‘No fixers for permit transactions’

STARTING next year, Cagayan de Oro City Hall’s bureaucracy is prohibited from following up on the business permit applications of business owners, a top City Hall official said yesterday.

“(On behalf of Mayor Rolando ‘Klarex’ Uy) I wish to remind everyone at City Hall that we are prohibited from following up on the business permit applications (of any (business owner or taxpayer). City Hall’s (Business One Stop Shop) office has their own process to facilitate and fast-track the registration/renewal of business permits,” City Administrator Roy Hilario Raagas said.

Raagas said this during Tuesday morning’s flag-raising program a day after the City Finance Office confirmed that it is open to those wishing to avail of the 20 percent discount on advance payments of real property taxes on Dec. 30 to 31 from 8 am to 5 pm.

Raagas’s statement also came weeks after Mayor Uy reminded City Hall’s bureaucracy not to extract favors from those conducting transactions at City Hall’s departments.

“These (fixers) usually present themselves as able (to facilitate the processing of their transactions)…I won’t tolerate that,” Uy warned in Visayan.

City Hall’s BOSS is under the City Finance Office and is designated to assist business owners in expediting the processing of their business permit registration/renewal.

The BOSS posted both a video and infographics detailing a step-by-step process on how to apply for business permit registration or renewal either onsite at City Hall or online at the Facebook page of the Cagayan de Oro City Information Office.

Rather than facilitating the processing of business permits themselves, City Hall employees should instead refer the business owners to the BOSS office for assistance, Raagas explained.

“From the small business owners to major companies, we should help the offices concerned to fast-track the processing of the business permit registration or renewal (of the business owners/taxpayers),” he said in Visayan.

City Hall under Mayor Uy’s administration is providing fiscal incentives such as tax amnesty and discounts to advance payments to the city’s business owners as part of efforts to rejuvenate the city’s economy following two years of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“(Their taxes) are the lifeblood of this city and City Hall. We are preparing the City Tourism Hall for the onrush of permit renewal/registration next week,” Raagas said. (Stephen Capillas of City Information Office)