To create a more conducive business environment in the Philippines, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is tapping local government units (LGUs) for the integration of online systems to further streamline the registration process for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).

The DTI signed on Friday, Nov. 10, eight memorandum of agreements (MOAs) between LGU officials of Baguio City, Benguet; City of Balanga, Bataan; Bislig City, Surigao del Sur; Butuan City, Agusan del Norte; Bacolod City, Negros Occidental; Municipality of Guiginto, Bulacan; City of San Pedro, Laguna; and City of Carmona, Cavite at the Board of Investments (BOI) building.

The MOAs are set to facilitate the integration of the DTI’s Business Name Registration System (BNRS) – which issues a business name registration certificate – to the respective online Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) – which issues Mayor’s/business permit and secondary licenses – of the respective LGUs.

“This partnership through system integration demonstrates our strong commitment to simplifying our registration procedures and requirements for the benefit of Filipino entrepreneurs, particularly for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs),” DTI Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said at the MOA signing.

During the press conference, Pascual emphasized that the DTI focuses on LGUs where a lot of businesses are established, noting that not all LGUs in the country have established remote systems that could participate in the integration.

To date, 10 LGUs have already signed in for the online system integration with DTI, since Parañaque City and Quezon City initially integrated their online BPLS with DTI’s BNRS.

Meanwhile, Business Name Registration Division (BNRD) Chief Philip Jason Roque said that they are expecting less than 10 other LGUs to sign up this year.

Roque added that they are targeting one million businesses to register this year, surpassing last year’s “record-breaking number” of registrations at more than 937,000.

From January to October, DTI has recorded 902,597 business registrations this year, with sari-sari stores topping the list.

Pascual said that the business name registrations this year also include renewals from businesses with expired DTI-registered business names, for instance, which are only valid for five years.

Compared to Indonesia with 65 million registered MSMEs, the Philippines has only around one million, according to Pascual.

Through the integration process, Pascual emphasized that registered business names can be automatically validated, thereby eliminating the mandatory submission of the physical copy of the BNR Certificate.  

He added that the integration will also help prevent the acceptance of fake and tampered BNR Certificates from some local businesses which do not properly register their business names to DTI.

In addition, Pascual said that LGUs are conducting their respective monitoring activities to ensure that every existing business within their respective areas has an authenticated business permit for their regulations.

San Pedro City Administrator Atty. Henry Salazar and Butuan City Mayor Ronnie Lagnada shared that they created their respective inspection team which is tasked to monitor businesses around their respective vicinities to encourage them to acquire authenticated business registration certificates and permits licenses.

Through online LGU officials said that the duration of the overall processing, including BNR certification and issuance of business permit/license, can be reduced to one day or less.

The online integration initiative is in line with the ease of doing business under Republic Act No. 11932 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, creating a more efficient business registration process using the whole-of-government approach through data sharing.