DAVAO CITY?After about four years since its inception, the government?s paperless business registration system will finally roll out this year, a trade official said.

Whilner Morales, program manager of the Philippine Business Registry (PBR) of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), said the paperless registration system will be implemented in local and national levels.

Morales said a live test will be conducted in Caloocan City this month.

?Anybody can register a business anywhere using the power of the Internet,? Morales said during Wednesday?s Kapihan sa PIA here.

He said the idea was to streamline the business registration process and subsequently reduce the cost of doing business, cut down red tape and promote paperless environment in the government.

PBR was conceptualized in 2006 by virtue of Executive Order No. 587 issued by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The order mandates the DTI and other government agencies and local government units to implement the paperless business registration system.

Morales said that the PBR, being paperless, will eliminate the need for business owners to deal with trade department employees face-to-face to eliminate opportunities for graft.

It would also make it more convenient for businessmen to register their establishments without leaving their places of origin.

?At its minimum, the PBR will address the repetitive submission with multiple copies of the same documents to different agencies,? said Morales.

?It will facilitate a seamless transactional environment for business registration and development across the application systems of various government agencies,? he said.

Some of these agencies, he said, are the Securities and Exchange Commission, DTI, Cooperative Development Agency, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Pag-Ibig, PhilHealth and local government units.

Morales said under the project, the online filing of applications for business permits and licenses will only need a single data entry facility, with links to systems of national government agencies and LGUs.

Citing a World Bank report, Morales said business registration in the Philippines takes 50 days and takes 11 steps.
Judy Quiros, Inquirer Mindanao