AUTOMATED BUSINESS REGISTRATION. The municipal hall of Rosario, Northern Samar. The town is eyeing to implement the Electronic Business Permits and Licensing System in bid to attract investments. (PNA photo by Roel Amazona)
ROSARIO, Northern Samar -- The local government unit here is eyeing to implement the Electronic Business Permits and Licensing System (e-BPLS).
Nelia Miranda, Rosario municipal budget officer, said implementing the e-BPLS is timely because the local government is on the process of updating their local revenue code.
Personnel from the Department of Information and Communication Technology (DICT) visited their town last week to evaluate their readiness for the implementation of the e-BPLS.
“We still have to submit requirements that include the Letter of Intent and municipal council resolution, which they will evaluate and if we pass, they will call us for training,” Miranda explained in an interview Sunday.
The e-BPLS is a program of the DICT included in the 10-point socioeconomic agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte to increase competitiveness and ease of doing business through automation.
The e-BPLS is a cloud-based software that will allow taxpayers to file an application for new and renewal of business permits online and help people by having ease of access to information which include retirement of businesses and business lines; computerized assessment of fees, taxes and charges; online printing of tax order of payment and business permit; and endorsement module for the Office of the Building Official, and other local government concerned offices.
Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Northern Samar provincial director Danny Laguitan said encouraging cities and towns to become business-friendly is one of the focuses of the agency.
One strategy to promote the local government as business-friendly is by streamlining processing of business permit and licenses.
“The DILG, along with DICT, is pushing for local government to become economic managers and not just as service providers. The investment must come in for their income to increase,” Laguitan said.
“If the process to do business in their area is efficient, if they can do online transaction in applying for their businesses, this will encourage businessmen to invest in our town," he added.
Currently, San Roque is the only town in Northern Samar that implements the e-BPLS.
The town is the second local government to implement the system in Eastern Visayas following San Juan, Southern Leyte.
DICT is also piloting the e-BPLS in the municipalities of Lavezares and Pambujan. (PNA)
