Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Paperless business registration to start this year—DTI exec

By Judy Quiros
Inquirer Mindanao

DAVAO CITY, Philippines – The government’s paperless business registration system will finally roll out this year, four years after its inception, a Department of Trade and Industry official said.

Whilner Morales, program manager of the DTI’s Philippine Business Registry (PBR), said the paperless registration system would be implemented at the local and national levels.

Morales said a live test would be conducted in Caloocan City in September.

“Anybody can register a business anywhere using the power of the Internet,” Morales said during Wednesday’s Kapehan sa PIA here.

He said the idea was to streamline the business registration process and subsequently reduce the cost of doing business, cut down red tape, and promote paperless environment in the government.

PBR was conceptualized in 2006 by virtue of Executive Order 587. The order mandates the DTI and other government agencies and local government units to implement the paperless business registration system.

Morales said that the PBR, being paperless, would eliminate the "face-to-face" factor, promote server-to-server integration, and eliminate geographical boundaries.

“At its minimum, the PBR will address the repetitive submission with multiple copies of the same documents to different agencies. It will facilitate a seamless transactional environment for business registration and development across the application systems of various government agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, DTI, Cooperative Development Agency, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security Sytem, Pag-IBIG, PhilHealth, and the local government units,” he said.

Morales said under the project, the online filing of applications for business permits and licenses will need only a single data entry facility, with links to the systems of national government agencies and LGUs.

Citing a World Bank report, Morales said businessregistration in the Philippines takes 50 days going through 11 processes.

But under the paperless concept, he said, an individual or corporation could save 26 days in business registration and processes.

“We have targets but for now we can only say that with PBR, saving 26 days from the usual 50 days of registration and processes can be guaranteed. But the rock bottom of PBR is significant speed,” Morales said.

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