GOVT COMMITS TO FASTER BUILDING PERMIT ISSUANCE
FOUR departments have signed a circular that aims to speed up and streamline the issuance of construction-related permits and certificates of occupancy
The Department of Trade and Industry ( DTI) said on Tuesday the Joint Memorandum Circular ( JMC) 2018- 01 it issued with the departments of Information and Communications Technology, Interior and Local Government, and Public Works and Highways sets standards in processing simple applications for these permits.
The circular covers singledwelling residential buildings with three floors or fewer; commercial buildings with one or two stories; renovations within a mall with issued building permits; and warehouses storing non- hazardous substances.
It directs local government units ( LGUs) to set up a processing system to ensure that permit- seekers submit their applications with complete documents, receive the order of payment, pay the fees, and claim the permits.
The time for LGUs to pro- cess applications is reduced to a maximum of five working days, and for permits from the Bureau of Fire Protection ( BFP), a maximum of three days.
The same number of steps and processing time are prescribed for applications for occupancy certificates.
To ensure compliance with the standards, the government is mandating LGUs to establish one- stop shops that would consolidate the processing of construction clearances.
These include building and occupancy clearances, locational clearances, tax declarations and clearances, and fire safety evaluation and inspection clearances.
Representatives from the offices of the building official and LGU assessor; treasury and zoning offices; and the BFP will be in one area of the LGU.
Joint inspection teams will also be organized to ease the applicants’ burden in accommodating multiple inspections by different offices before their occupancy certificates are released.
Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said the circular “strengthens our previous efforts to eliminate red tape,” and now “that JMC 2018- 01 is in place, we look forward to improved ease of doing business and better performance in [ the World Bank’s] Doing Business [ report] rankings.”