The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has signed Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs) to facilitate the integration of the agency’s Business Name Registration System (BNRS) to the online Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) of eight local government units (LGUs).
The LGUs are Baguio City; City of Balanga, Bataan; Bislig City; Butuan City; City of San Pedro, Laguna; Bacolod City; Carmona, Cavite; and Guiguinto, Bulacan.
According to DTI secretary Fred Pascual, the integration will realize the shared goal of the department and the LGUs in creating a more conducive business environment in the Philippines by further streamlining the registration process for business owners.
As the first step in the business registration for a sole proprietorship, business owners need to register their business names with the DTI through the BNRS, one of the first online end-to-end registration systems in government.
However, succeeding registrations with the LGUs (for Mayor’s/Business Permit) and other national government agencies or NGAs (for Secondary Permit/Licenses for special sectors) require the submission of the Certificate of Business Name Registration issued by DTI, which will then be validated to ensure its authenticity prior to processing the application for the needed permit/license.
DTI secretary Fred Pascual asserted that since the LGUs have already automated their business permitting and licensing system, a more practical and convenient functionality may be further implemented using the whole-of-government approach through data sharing.
In particular, by integrating DTI’s BNRS with the automated BPLS of the LGUs, the registered business name can be automatically validated, thereby eliminating the mandatory submission of the Certificate of Business Name Registration.
Parañaque City and Quezon City were the first LGUs to have their online BPLS integrated with the DTI’s BNRS.
So far, the Procurement Service of the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) is the only NGA that has linked their system, particularly the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) with the BNRS to help promote the integrity and expedite the public bidding process.
The agreements also mandate the parties to treat the shared information with confidentiality and implement the necessary security measures as specified in the Data Privacy Act.
