DICT vows to scrap red tape by next year

The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) pledged to eliminate bureaucratic redtape and streamline business registration processes in the Philippines by 2020 through the Central Business Portal (CBP).

The CBP is an online platform which speeds up business registration and facilitates the application process, including the submission of business requirements and providing links to online registration services of various National Government Agencies (NGAs).

It was launched at the DICT Office in Quezon City the other day and will be fully operational by February 14, 2020.

Once applications are done online, they can be completed in five days, reducing, if not eliminating, long queues for physical transactions.

“We want to promote transparency and ease of doing business," stressed DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan II. "The CBP shortens the processing period of business registration-related transactions.”

The CBP covers business transactions under the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but is envisioned to also cover the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), social agencies, as well as transactions under the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Republic Act 11302 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 mandates the DICT as the lead agency responsible in establishing, operating and maintaining the CBP.

The CBP can curb corruption in the government, according to Jeremiah Belgica, Director General of the Anti-Red Tape Authority. "Every signature, every stop where you need to talk to a government employee is always an opportunity for corruption. The CBP ensures there will be no human intervention."

However, the DICT has to improve Internet connectivity to roll-out the CBP, Honasan acknowledged.

"We aim for speed to connect everybody – government to government and business, domestic and global. That's the rationale for the business portal," he said.