Biz registry seen to boost competitiveness of Phl firms

MANILA, Philippines - Business permit applicants in the provinces may use the newly-launched Philippine Business Registry (PBR), one stop shop for permits processing in the regional offices of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said the PBR would be available in the DTI regional and provincial offices and at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) head office in Mandaluyong City.

Local government units such as Quezon City, Caloocan and Mandaluyong would also start offering PBR services in their city halls.

For corporations, the applicants need to go to the nearest DTI office and submit a filled-out PBR application form together with a photocopy of complete SEC registration documents such as SEC registration certificate and Articles of Partnership/Corporation. The applicant must present the original copies of the documents for verification.

The teller will submit the client’s application to SSS, Pag-ibig, and PhilHealth.

The PBR is a web-based business registration system which serves as a one-stop shop for entrepreneurs who need to transact with several agencies to start a business. These include the DTI, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), Philippine Health and Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Domingo said the establishment of the PBR one-stop shop for business registration could improve the global ranking of the Philippines in terms of ease of doing business.

“PBR is very important not only in terms of service to the public… but also in the increase in competitiveness rankings… this is critical to having a good economic growth,” he said.

The Philippines is presently at the 136th place in the 2012 Doing Business Survey published by the World Bank-International Finance Corp. (WB-IFC).

Domingo said that one factor attributed to the Philippines’ poor performance in competitiveness surveys is the slow business registration process in the country.

“PBR provides a real time solution for entrepreneurs who need to transact with several agencies to be able to start operating their business,” he said.

Domingo said the PBR can be an important source of information about businesses in the country. “This will be very useful in analysing the industry, the behavior of the SMEs and other types of corporate information,” he said.