BASILAN PROVINCE (Mindanao Examiner / July 23, 2013) – The Business Permit and Licensing System or BPLS project will soon be rolled out in Isabela City in Basilan province and is expected to fast track or cut time in the issuance of business permits.
Herminia Cuevas, of the National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center in Western Mindanao, said they are meeting with local government officials and present the overview of the BPLS project, including the proposed roll out plan of action for Isabela.
She said some 19 local governments in Zamboanga Peninsula have successfully simplified their business permitting systems in accordance with the national BPLS standards and are targeting 32 more this year.
Cuevas said the Department of Trade and Industry is also working jointly with the Department of the Interior and Local Government in pushing for the adoption of the BPLS reforms in the country.
“We are hopeful that by 2016, all the 72 local government units in Zamboanga Peninsula will have completed their BPLS re-engineering and simplification program to meet, if not surpass the minimum standards set by the national government on this,” she told the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner.
Once streamlined, local governments may proceed to the second component of the project and that is automation or computerization of their BPLS. The National Computer Center is on top of this, Cuevas said.
“The third component is focused on improving customer relations at the local government level while the fourth component is about institutionalizing the reforms attained thus far,” she added. (Lowell Vallecer)
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