Bizmen satisfied with City Hall’s one-stop shop at mall
Business applicants are now satisfied of the speedy simplified document processing at the One-Stop Shop of City Hall inside Robinsons mall in Iloilo City.
This was confirmed by the Monitoring and Assessment of the Streamlined Business Permit and Licensing System (BPLS) conducted by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) through the Private Sector Promotion Program (SMEDSEP) June 2008.
The Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) affirmed the efficient and simpler BPLS which reduces the number of steps from 18 to eight. The 12 renewal and 14 new application forms to be filled up were also slashed to six and eight respectively. The 30 signatures for renewal and 33 for new application were cut to only 12. The processing time of 7-15 days was also shortened into four days for a business applicant to get a Mayor’s Permit.
These improvements resulted to significant reduction of 64 percent in bureaucratic cost from P4,700 to only P1,700 with major cutback on wages of employee processing the application because it is now lesser time-consuming.
“Almost all of the business applicants interviewed during the conduct of the study expressed that they are satisfied of the BPLS process starting in 2008 than in 2007. They said that the one-stop shop makes their processing more convenient and faster since almost all offices are in one area,” GTZ-DTI said in its report.
The applicants also find comfort on the air-conditioned mall with enough chairs and benches at the City Hall area at the third floor.
“Business applicants also said that the BPLS starting in 2008 has been less tiring and less costly on their part because after the assessment of tax dues and fees, they are asked to leave their application to assigned service personnel and returned the following day to get their business permit,” the GTZ-DTI study noted.
The GTZ-DTI survey quoted the applicants as saying “it’s good to process this time because the place is air-conditioned and comfortable.”
“The feeling is good because we are being entertained well – there are chairs and benches – and there are many personnel whom you can ask for help. It’s good since I can do shopping while waiting for my papers – they told us to just leave our papers and they take care of it – and get it the next day.”
Eight out of 10 respondents said the 2008 BPLS is simple or easy (85.5 percent approval) and efficient (87.1 percent satisfaction) while only two respondents said otherwise.
The applicants also suggested the use signages, proper labeling of tales and arrangement of personnel table according to prescribed process flow for simpler system.
Strong information dissemination and aggressive campaign against fixers and bureaucratic red tape has been also observed to protect the best interest of transacting public.
“Almost all agreed that improving the BPLS would encourage more businesses to get or renew their permits. They also agreed that the policies adopted by the City Government are supportive of the growth of SMEs.”
Around 10,000 registered SMEs in the metropolis employ some 50,000 workers in the city. (PIO