Business registration portal streamlines start to business

MANILA, Philippines — The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) said the government is eyeing the processing of business applications in the Philippines in just one step and one day through the newly launched Philippine Business Hub (PBH).

ARTA officer-in-charge and Undersecretary Ernesto Perez said the PBH, launched by a number of participating agencies on June 20, 2022, enables the registration of businesses with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) from the previous 13 steps in 33 days to just six steps in three working days.

“But our objective really is to make it in one day and in one step. That is our ultimate objective within the third quarter of this year,” said Perez in his presentation at the recent MSME Week 2022 hosted by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

The Philippine Business Hub, which used to be called the Central Business Portal (CBP), is a 24/7 single platform for processing all business-related transactions including business registration and renewal to promote effective service delivery and transparency in the government. It seeks to streamline the registration of business, renewal of permits and other activities through online transactions.

Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Delivery of Government Services Act, provides for the creation of a single portal to make business transactions easier and faster.

Before its re-launch into the PBH, the CBP was introduced in January 2021 to allow end-to-end registration of one-person corporations and less-than-five person corporations. It was then linked to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and local  government units (LGUs).

By April of the same year, CBP was integrated into the new SEC registration system, which allowed the processing of regular corporations on the website.

In February this year CBP began to accept applications from all corporate types including partnerships, foreign stock corporations, and non-stock corporations. From March, the CBP started permitting the registration of sole proprietorships through the DTI-Business Name Registration System.

The renaming from CBP to PBH was announced last June 20 in Quezon City, which has also been designated a model city, Perez said.

Under the current Phase 1 of PBH, an applicant corporation or sole proprietorship is enabled to apply digitally for business registration with the SEC or DTI, as well as register with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and social security agencies such as Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Pag-IBIG Fund.

After registering with these agencies online, the applicant can then register with the LGU concerned to secure a business permit or license, Perez said.

He said the FDA for Drug Evaluation and Research is also now connected to the PBH, making online registration permissible for businesses engaged in pharmaceuticals.

Other features of the PBH include:

• Tracking of the status of applications in each of the agencies via the PBH’s dashboard

• Automatic designation of Tax Identification Number and Employer Number

•  Unified employee reporting form

• Redirection to BIR e-payment services

• Direct generation of BIR Certificate of Registration, FDA License to Operate and LGU business permit

•  Integration with 18 LGUs via individual business permits and licensing systems (IBPLS)  and over 700 LGUs hyperlinked via IBPLS

• Linkage between the PBH and the Philippine business regulations information system so that “anyone who has a business will now have access to the regulations involving his business,” Perez said.

But Perez said the ultimate dream is to achieve the goal of “1 Step 1 Day” for business registration. “We hope to achieve it before the end of this year, probably within the third quarter of this year.”