'Double penalty so bizmen comply with requirements'

CEBU, Philippines - Mandaue City treasurer Regal Oliva is urging the city council to enact a law that will increase the administrative penalty for business owners in the city who fail to submit all required clearances.

Oliva said he has written to the city council requesting to increase the penalty from P5,000 to P10,000 after he noticed that there are still many business owners in the city who fail to comply with the SSS, Philhealth and Pag-ibig clearances.

Oliva pointed out that such requirements are needed to protect the welfare of the estimated 300,000 employees in the city who are employed in over 15,000 business establishments.

He explained that under the law, business establishments should not be given a business permit if they failed to submit the necessary clearances.

But a memorandum of the Department of Interior and Local Government orders local government units to give businesses 60 days to submit the clearances after receiving their permit.

Deadline for the renewal of business permits in the city was last January 20, and for establishments to avoid paying the penalty they are supposed to comply with all the requirements by March 30.

However, the city council also recently adopted a resolution extending the deadline for the submission of all required clearances from the SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-ibig for six months.

Councilor Emmarie Ouano-Dizon, who sponsored the resolution, said most establishments cannot submit all these clearances because of the long lines and “sluggish process” in the said offices.

With the approval of the resolution, business owners in the city are given until July 20 starting this year to comply with these clearances unlike in the previous years when deadline was set every March 20.

Olivea also said that in the previous years, establishments who failed to submit all clearances were only fined  P500 in administrative penalty .

Last year, it was raised to P5,000 expecting all business owners will already be compelled to submit their clearances on time, something which never materialized, according to Oliva.

Earlier, Oliva revealed that his office collected P13 million in penalty payments last month, which is a decrease from P22 million in 2013. (FREEMAN)