MAYBE NEXT YEAR?
City to roll out online renewal of business permits
15 December 2020 – Owners of businesses will no longer have to line up in the different offices in City Hall to process the renewal of their permits with the upcoming roll out of the city government’s the online renewal of permits.
City Treasurer Alex Cabarrubias reported the city government is now in the final stages of completing the system for the online renewal of business permits with its private partner with only the payment solution being synchronized before the system will be turned over to the city for implementation.
In the meantime, he said that individuals and corporations applying for new permits will have to transact with the concerned offices face-to-face while efforts are being done to further enhance the system to include the overall process of renewal and application of business permits.
The city treasurer pointed out that the city is striving to ensure convenience among those applying for the renewal or new permits in compliance with the law on the ease of doing business and partly on improving the city’s competitiveness index.
On the other hand, Cabarrubias explained that for businesses tagged in the system for violations, the owners cannot renew their permits online until such time they are able to settle their violations with the concerned offices that shall in turn give the go-signal for the renewal of the tagged permits.
Further, he added that the city government will be training barangay treasurers this week to equip them with the appropriate knowledge and skills, coupled with the provision of a simple system, for them to be able to issue the required community tax certificates for their constituents, among other payments such as those for police clearance, anti-road obstruction and other city ordinances imposing penalties, as well as garbage fees.
Based on the data from the City Treasury Office, there are more than 22,000 registered businesses in the city this year.
He said the city government will announce how to renew permits online once the system is in place hopefully when regular work resumes by January 4, 2021.
The city official called on owners of businesses to immediately renew their permits upon the resumption of government work in 2021, so as not to encounter unnecessary delays.
Under the present set up, owners of businesses with business names starting with letters A-H should renew their permits in January, those with business names starting in I to P should renew their permits in February, while those with business names starting with Q-Z will be allowed to renew their permits in March.
He warned that businesses who will not renew their permits on schedule will be automatically be charged a 25 percent surcharge on their business taxes aside from the 2 percent monthly penalty on the accumulated amount. – Dexter A. See
INSET PHOTO: MJ Barin, operations manager of Pasig-based ITBS, explains the Baguio City In My Pocket (BIMP) free app to about 70 barangay Sanggunian Kabataan (SK) officers recently at the City Hall multi-purpose hall. The group was led by councilor Levy Lloyd Orcales, SK Baguio federation president. They committed to encourage residents of their barangays to register in the app that provides “no contact” transactions, aides in covid-19 contact tracing, and other benefits. BIMP is also part of Baguio LGU’s march towards SMART City status where technology is used for better governance and serve the public more effifiently and effectively.-Gaby B. Keith