Government working on law to establish business permit office

THE GOVERNMENT is drafting a bill that will establish a Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) as a workaround to staffing shortages at local government units (LGUs), according to the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev).

Economy Undersecretary Rosemarie G. Edillon told reporters on Thursday that the BPLO bill is intended to promote ease of doing business (EoDB) as LGUs sometimes have no plantilla slots to staff for a business permit office.

“These are not institutionalized offices, so they are not given any plantilla positions, except if you’re a big, big city, probably then you can afford that,” she said on the sidelines of an event at the Department of Finance.

As contemplated, a BPLO would accept online applications, assessments, and payments for business permit renewals.

Ms. Edillion added that the proposed measure will make BPLOs mandatory in big cities initially to serve the most possible business owners.

“What happens is they bulk up during January. That’s really the way they do it — hiring lots of (contractual workers). But again, there’s no continuity,” she added.

The Philippines ranked 53^rd out of 101 economies in the World Bank’s 2025 Business-Ready (B-Ready) report, which measures the state of the business environment.

In addition, Ms. Edillion called for digitalization, with LGUs needing to shift to online applications, renewal, and payment.

Asked about other priorities in the next few years, she said DEPDev is also pushing for good governance measures, along with initiatives for transparency and accountability, relevance, and responsiveness.

“We should do science-based planning even for your infrastructure projects. Science-based monitoring, using remote sensing and the like, and real-time reporting,” she added.

Ms. Edillion said DEPDev has presented several proposals to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. and expects developments in the coming days. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante