Muntinlupa mayor firm on Friday deadline on business permit renewal

MANILA, Philippines—Apparently fed up with late taxpayers, Muntinlupa Mayor Aldrin San Pedro has affirmed the Friday deadline on the renewal of business permits and licenses this year, saying extensions the local government made in the past years render their preparations useless.

Through his spokesperson Omar Acosta, San Pedro said that in particular, City Hall spends for the transfer of equipment to the spacious Tunasan sports complex in anticipation of more than 10,000 business owners who would settle their obligations to the local government between Jan. 2-20.

“But this doesn’t happen,” Acosta told the INQUIRER over the phone referring to taxpayers.

“When we go back to City Hall toward the deadline, it’s only that time people come in huge numbers to renew their licenses. The local government then is forced to extend the deadline to accommodate the people.”

San Pedro noticed the trend in the past two years and this year, he vowed to change this habit, said Acosta, the city public information officer.

The mayor had pointed out what use was the deadline set by the local government code if the extension was allowed to happen year after year, Acosta said.

The city government spends a considerable amount in the logistics, particularly the transfer of equipment from City Hall to the Tunasan sports complex, which had a bigger space for the expected droves of taxpayers, Acosta said. The facility was also air-conditioned for the convenience of taxpayers.

The business permits and licenses office sets up shop there to facilitate the renewal, while all Muntinlupa barangays have stalls there for the issuance of local barangay permits.

Free shuttle services are offered by the local government from City Hall to Tunasan and back while tarpaulin signs are posted at various areas to remind people about the tax deadline

After looking over the expense report on the preparations for the license renewal operation, San Pedro noticed that the numbers showed that any extension on the deadline would be impractical, Acosta said.

“We transfer the license renewal outside City Hall so that people would not be inconvenienced. We don’t have much space at City Hall,” he said.

This year, the city government was standing pat on the Jan. 20 deadline, and San Pedro reminded business owners to start renewing their licenses lest they suffer penalties for late renewal.

Business owners who fail to renew their licenses on time were to be fined 25 percent of their total license cost, plus a one percent surcharge for every month of delay on payments.

San Pedro directed the business license office to strictly enforce the penalties when the deadline lapses on Friday.