DTI launches PBR in Cebu

By Mia A. Aznar

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

AFTER acquiring the rights to operate a beauty salon in Tayud, Liloan, a 34-year-old woman expected to work on all her business requirements for several days.

When Elsa Canonigo dropped by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) 7’s National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center (Nerbac) to work on her business name registration, she was surprised to accomplish five requirements in just 10 minutes.

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Canonigo happened to walk into the launching of the Philippine Business Registry (PBR) and was the first to benefit from the quick process of applying for a business name.

She also acquired her Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) tax identification number, Social Security System (SSS) number, Home Development Mutual Fund (Pagibig) and PhilHealth registrations.

‘Important step’

“Wa ko nagdahum ingon ani diay ka-paspas (I didn’t think it would be this quick),” Canonigo told reporters. She added that she even expected that she would have to go keep on returning to the Nerbac and visit each agency to complete her requirements before heading to the Liloan Municipal Hall to get her business permit.

“Nagtuo gyud ko nga lisod. Wa gyud ko nagdahum nga makalusot nako sa tanan (I expected it to be difficult and to take long),” she said.

DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo called the PBR an “important step” in President Benigno Aquino III’s pledge to ease the way of doing business in the country.

The PBR system links the systems of the DTI, SSS, Pagibig, PhilHealth, Securities and Exchange Commission and BIR in real time, allowing the applicant to go to just one office, in this case, the DTI Nerbac, and complete the requirements by filling up just one application form.

The DTI is also partnering with the local governments of Cebu City, Moalboal, Compostela, Alcoy, Cordova, Toledo City, Balamban, Carcar, Dalaguete, Liloan, Barili and Lapu-Lapu City.

Next month, they will be putting up a PBR kiosk at the Cebu City Hall to make it even easier for applicants to complete their business permit applications and applicants will no longer have to drop by the DTI office.

Domingo also announced that once they complete the government’s e-payment system within the middle of the year, applicants will no longer have to personally appear at these agencies. This system will allow applicants to use their credit cards in transacting.

“Soon the service will be available online and there will be no need to come here. You can register in your own house,” he said.

Besides easing the workload of a starting entrepreneur, Domingo added that the system also absorbs many functions within the Nerbac, releasing employees of the workload required by business name registration.

Domingo hopes to introduce the PBR system in major cities in the country.

Some P20 million was spent in configuring a system that would interconnect all agencies in real time.

As for the cost to interconnect the system with a local government unit, he admitted the amount would depend on how much an LGU has invested in technology.

Security

As for the security aspect, Domingo assured many security procedures have been put in place to prevent hackers from accessing the system.

However, he believes the data encoded in the system will not be interesting to hackers because the data is not confidential.

“We don’t mind them looking at the data. We mind if they change it,” he added.

With the PBR system, the DTI expects a more streamlined process of business registration, could become attractive to investors and improve the country’s competitiveness.

DTI 7 Director Asteria Caberte said the business registration facility of the PBR also has a business registry search that clients can use to check if the name they chose for their business is already registered.

Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on March 21, 2012.