Local migration boosts biz registrations Grace Melanie I. Lacamiento

CEBU, Philippines - With over 12,000 businesses registered last year, the Department of Trade and Industry Cebu Provincial Office expects the number to surge this year considering the migration of people from calamity-hit areas in the Visayas to Cebu.

DTI-CPO Consumer Welfare and Business Regulation division chief Zaide Bation said that they expect an influx of businesses to sprout in the province this year. 

Based on the latest Business Name Registration Data that was updated last January 21, a total of 12,261 business names were approved last year with the highest number recorded at 1,391 in July.

From 2001 to 2013, the highest record of total approved business names in the province was recorded at 14,050 in 2011.

Bation said that they have exceeded the target set in 2013 although last year’s performance was slightly lower than the 12,445 business names recorded in 2012.

She cited that majority of sole proprietors usually fall under the micro, small and medium enterprises.

DTI-CPO aims to reach the targeted 10,000 business names to be approved this year. It also intends to achieve the 10-percent mark for renewal of business names that happens after five years upon registration.

In terms of capitalization, a total of P1,012,086, 264 was recorded in 2013 with its highest reported on March at P139,529,584.

The number of employment, on the other hand, reached 22,064 last year with its highest number recorded at 2,254 in the month of August.

The capitalization for the period of October 2010 to December 2012 was not mandatory in the application form while the employment data was not required in the application form from October 2008 to December 2012.

However, DTI-CPO said business name registrations seemed to have drop compared to the figures recorded in 2010. This is due to the implementation of no corporation, no branch and no franchise policy in business name registration, majority of Cebu businesses are corporations and partnerships, big businessmen in municipalities already have business names.

Since October 2008, the business name registrations are only mandatory for single proprietorships. Franchises and branches are also no longer required to register their business names with DTI since September 2010.

There were a total of 12,365 business names approved in 2010 following the 12,529 recorded in 2009.  (FREEMAN)