LEGAZPI CITY – The Business Permit Licensing Office (BPLO) here has so far recorded a total of 5,915 business establishments that registered with their office to either start or continue their operations since January this year.
During the same period in 2021, there were 5,200 establishments registered, which showed an increase of 13.75 percent.
The increase despite the Covid-19 pandemic is attributed to the gradually improving business operations in the city and the full operations of the city’s Electronic Business One Stop Shop or E-BOSS.
Asuncion Calleja, BPLO chief, in an interview on Wednesday, said out of the total number of fully-registered businesses, 715 were new while the rest have continued their operations from the previous year.
She said all the business owners and their representatives can easily get their permits through the E-BOSS, an electronic system wherein the BPLO is interconnected with all the regulatory offices that are involved in business licensing.
“Through the E-BOSS program, the applicants for new businesses and for renewal of their permits should only submit their documents to the BPLO, and then it will be passed to the regulatory offices involved in issuing business permits, including the offices of the Treasurer, Zoning, Engineering, and the City Environment and Natural Resources,” Calleja said.
She said applicants do not have to wait a long time anymore before their business permits are processed because these are now done by the regulatory offices using the Enhance Tax Revenue Assessment and Collection System (ETRACS).
“Through ETRACS, all the documents submitted by the applicants could now be scrutinized quickly to determine if the certifications are expired or have some violations. But once the documents do not carry any violation, these will be processed through the system then forwarded to me and to the mayor for our electronic signature,” Calleja said.
She noted that Legazpi is the only local government unit in Albay where documents for business permits are no longer being brought personally to the BPLO chief and to the mayor for approval.
She added that these papers must be signed by the system digitally and electronically before being passed to the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO) for tax assessment.
The BPLO will then give a tax order of payment to the applicants, and once complied with and after the tax payment has been made, a clearance will be issued to business establishments.
The approved documents will finally be systematically and automatically transmitted to the City Mayor’s Office for the release of the business permit.
Calleja added that the city government is also compliant with Republic Act 11032, also known as the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, with regard to barangay clearance integration, as the applicants no longer have to go to the barangay hall to get their clearances.
The CTO will be the one to collect payment for the tax clearance on their behalf, while the concerned barangay will personally deliver their issued clearance to the business establishments.
“For those who are going to renew their business permits, we do not require them to fill out another application form. They only need to select the lanes for pregnant women as well as persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens, men and women, priority, bulk and express lanes inside the office of the BPLO,” Calleja said. (PNA)
