EBPLS to be rolled out in R11 this year
ELECTRONIC Business Permits and Licensing Systems (eBPLS) is targeted to be fully implemented in select municipalities in Davao Region within the year in order to improve government to citizen transactions especially with business permit and clearances acquisition.
During President Rodrigo Duterte’s first state of the nation address last year, one of the pressing issues he said he wish to address is to reduce to the barest minimum the processing time of acquiring business permits to three days. This includes business permits and clearances released by local governments.
According to Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Field Operations Office – Mindanao Cluster 3 Officer in charge engineer Leo B. Ugto, the eBPLS is a product of a joint memorandum circular (JMC 2016) of DICT, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG). This project, prioritizing small municipalities, piloted in Baler, Aurora January of this year.
So far, the local governments of New Bataan, Pantukan, and Sta. Cruz had expressed their interest to utilize eBPLS in their offices for faster transactions.
Ugto said after the applications, they are to visit the municipalities to better introduce the system after proper assessment and inspection of DILG for the LGU’s readiness of use of the technology. After which, training of the personnel will follow.
“If all is already ironed out and the computers in the LGU’s are already for use, we can train the personnel they are to deploy, sign memorandum of agreement. We are going to install the eBPLS software. After a week, they can already fully implement this in their localities,” said Ugto.
In this project, DILG leads capacity building and compliance monitoring. They are the ones assessing the readiness of specific LGUs to be installed an eBPLS. DICT is in-charge of the development and deployment of the technology as well as the training of personnel while DTI provides policy directions and compliance audit.
The JMC 2016 uses unified forms, which can be downloaded online including the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) form for the applicant’s convenience.
The entire process was also reduced to only three simple steps – application filing and verification, assessment of fees and charges, and the one-time payment and claiming. Documentary requirements are also reduced to a minimum as President Duterte ordered removal of redundant documents.
Processing was also reduced to only one to two days while the number of signatories is reduced to only two officials. Signatures of the officials will also be made e-signatures for convenience. Payments can also be done online.
“Using this eBPLs, the processing time of business permits will be reduced to the barest minimum so government-citizen transaction will really be improved,” said Ugto.