Select 166 local government units (LGU) nationwide will soon
have their own fully streamlined and digitalized electronic Business One-Stop
Shop (eBOSS).
This followed after the launch of Anti-Red Tape Authority
(ARTA) and the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO) last Friday, March 17, of the
'Paspas Pilipinas Paspas' project, a public-private partnership, in
collaboration with the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG),
the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), and the
National Association of Business Permits and Licensing Officers (NABPLO).
Secretary Ernesto V. Perez said the project intends for an
end-to-end assistance to LGU beneficiaries, from the initial distribution of
500 computer units and capacity building trainings to having the option of
using the integrated Business Processing and Licensing System (iBPLS) which is
a free software developed by the DICT.
Perez also thanked President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for his
administration’s strong push towards digitalization of government processes.
ARTA's push for the full implementation of the eBOSS is
provided by Section 11 (c) of Republic Act (RA) 11032, or the Ease of Doing
Business Law, which mandates cities and municipalities to automate their
business permitting and licensing system or set up an eBOSS.
And based on the compliance checklist of ARTA - Compliance
Monitoring and Evaluation Office (CMEO), only 1, 232 out of 1, 634 cities and
municipalities or 75.93 percent have submitted the status of their business
permitting systems to ARTA. Meanwhile, only 506 or 31 percent of all these LGUs
have reported that they have a fully or partially automated eBOSS.
ARTA has been conducting inspections to validate these
submissions, and so far, has officially recognized seven cities in Metro
Manila, namely, Paranaque City, Quezon City, Manila City, Muntinlupa City, Valenzuela
City, and Navotas City, for having a fully functional eBOSS.
"Based on our validation with LGUs, we have determined
that process streamlining, harmonization, and automation significantly
increased the number of businesses that are formally registering to LGUs and
ultimately, resulted in an increase of revenue collections of LGUs," Perez
added.
In 2022, the combined total business tax collection revenue
of eBOSS-compliant cities in NCR was almost 2 billion pesos.
The first batch of the targeted 166 beneficiaries of the
project are 27 LGUs, specifically, in Cavite—Alfonso, General Trias, and
Silang; in Laguna—Bay, Cabuyao, Calamba, Luisiana, Pila, Rizal, San Pablo, San
Pedro, and Victoria; in Bulacan—Bulacan, Bustos, Paombong, Angat, Bocaue, and
Hagonoy; in Quezon Province—Candelaria, Lucban, Tayabas, and Tiaong; and in
Rizal; Jalajala, Morong, Pililla, and Taytay.
“The 500 computers is not an initial, we will accept the
challenge of the [ARTA] Secretary for us expanding for some more. Hindi po tayo
hihinto Secretary [Ernesto Perez] until magkaroon ng 100 percent compliance
yung report niyo kanina. And now we hope that the 402 who are non-compliant
will be compliant within the year po,” Meralco Vice President and Head of
Legal, Atty. William S. Pamintuan, said.
”Meralco is one with ARTA in leveraging technology to
empower economic recovery of one business at the time," Pamintuan added.
"I would like to emphasize that this PPP is anchored to
ARTA's full commitment to the President's directive of fast-tracking the
government's transition to a more efficient bureaucracy," ARTA Secretary
Perez meanwhile stated.
Aside from this, Secretary Perez also bared that the
Authority is also continuously interconnecting regulating agencies and major
telco players to improve internet connectivity in the localities as it is one
of the major issues cited by LGUs which hamper their full implementation of the
eBOSS.