Moreno urges Manila businesses to prioritize hiring of city residents

MANILA, Philippines — Mayor Isko Moreno on Wednesday encouraged businesses in Manila to prioritize city residents when they hire workers.

Moreno said that providing more jobs for the city’s residents will be a “great formula to improve the peace and order situation” in the country’s capital.

“We can prevent criminals from rampaging our streets if people have decent jobs and decent pay,” Moreno told the Makati Business Club in a meeting in Manila.

“Isa sa mga hiling ko sana, kung pwede lang, at least 70% of your employees are from the City of Manila. This will be our formula to solve peace and order issues. We should create jobs,” he added.

Moreno also said the local government of Manila will cleanse its ranks in a bid to eliminate corruption, particularly in the issuance of business permits and licenses.

According to Moreno, business licenses and real property taxes are the “centers of corruption” in the city government.

“To combat corruption, we will minimize human intervention by applying technology into our practices,” he said.

Recently, the city government of Manila launched a one-stop shop for business permits, licenses that aims to eliminate red tape and lower the processing time of business permits and licenses from one week to one day.

Atty. Paul Vega, chief of the Manila Business Permits and Licenses Office, noted that as long as business permit applicants file their complete requirements, they can get their permits and licenses in one day.  /muf

READ: Manila LGU launches one-stop shop for business permits, licenses