Gov’t eyes single-window business registration system

“We are not satisfied with a single-stop-shop approach. We want to have a single-window approach so that the processing of permits and business applications will be faster,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia on Thursday. (Photo By Philippine Information Agency, Public Domain)

MANILA — The government is eyeing a “single-window approach” in its bid to streamline the business registration, as it institutes reforms to further enhance the ease of doing business in the country.

“We are not satisfied with a single-stop-shop approach. We want to have a single-window approach so that the processing of permits and business applications will be faster,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia on Thursday.

With the single-window approach, businesses will only have to submit all documents to one government representative or office which will handle all related processes from there.

The country’s chief economic planner bared this initiative after the Philippines placed 113th in the World Bank Group’s 2018 ranking of 190 economies in its annual ease of doing business report.

While the country slid down from the 99th place last year, its score improved by 0.

42 points from 58.32 last year to 58.74 this year.

Apart from the single-window business registration system, Pernia said legislative reforms to improve the ease of doing business in the country are also underway with the Expanded Anti-Red Tape Act expected to be passed by early next year.

Other legislative agenda that the government is pushing for include the amendment of the Local Government Code to address the challenges in local service delivery and the passage of the E-government Act to enable interoperability of government data and processes to increase efficiency and economy in the delivery of services.

Pernia, also National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General, likewise reiterated the government’s plan to amend certain economic provisions of the Constitution to relax restrictive foreign ownership provisions to attract more foreign investments