Central Business Portal: Newest gateway to SSS online services

All About Social Security

Afew weeks ago, I had the chance to catch up with my former colleagues. It was nice to learn that their sons and daughters are planning to start their businesses anytime soon. I admire our young bloods’ courage that, despite the unpredictable economic situation, they are still willing to take risks and fulfill their dreams. Parents, as well as extended family members, will always be on hand to support them in their new ventures.

Starting a business in the Philippines is perceived by many as costly, complex, and difficult. There would be different sets of documentary requirements, application forms, and even separate fees. Based on World Bank ’s Ease of Doing Business Ranking in 2020, the Philippines ranked 95th globally and 11th in East Asia and Pacific.

There are 16 step-by-step procedures that every aspiring entrepreneur usually goes through. They must also be compliant to certain guidelines issued by government agencies and respective local government units (LGUS) when securing registration certificates and permits. These include the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Philippine Health Insurance Corp. and Home Development Mutual Fund or PAG-IBIG.

In response to the government’s call to streamline procedures for efficient and effective service delivery to the public, Republic Act 11032 or the Ease in Doing Business and Efficient Delivery of Government Services Act of 2018 was passed into law. One of its provisions is the creation of a web portal where aspiring entrepreneurs can facilitate their transactions online. It is for this reason that the Central Business Portal (CBP) Project was launched by the national government on January 28, which will further simplify several transactions such as registration of business, renewal of permits, and other related activities.

Involved in the creation of the

As we gradually recover from the economic downturn, now is the time to move forward and strive for progress. SSS will always support every endeavor that would provide easier, safer, faster, and more convenient transactions through our Expresss services.

CBP project are the Department of Information and Communications Technology, together with the SEC, BIR, Philhealth, PAG-IBIG, and the SSS.

Phase 1 of the CBP covers oneperson corporations and corporations with five employees or less that need to generate their respective Tax Identification Number (TIN) electronically from the BIR and Employer Registration Numbers from the SSS, Philhealth, and PAG-IBIG.

The portal also offers a Unified Employee Reporting Module for SSS, Philhealth, and PAG-IBIG. Employers can save time and effort from this web feature because they don’t have to access separate web sites just to fill out application forms from each government agency. The CBP system combines the application forms for a one-time data capture of employers’ information.

Just recently, we announced that employer registration and submission of the initial list of employees as among the online transactions in the CBP.

To proceed with the online business registration, employers should create an account and click the link https://business.gov.ph/signup. For further queries regarding the online business portal, employers may also access the link https://business. gov.ph/faqs.

We are pleased to be part of this government initiative, as this will help our aspiring individuals to pursue their business plans.

As we gradually recover from the economic downturn, now is the time to move forward and strive for progress. SSS will always support every endeavor that would provide easier, safer, faster, and more convenient transactions through our Expresss services. I believe that once these procedural reforms from CBP are finally rolled out, aspiring business owners will be greatly motivated to pursue their dreams.

On this note, allow me to share a quote on leadership from Japanese Organizational Theorist Professor Ikujiro Nonaka: “The ability to recognize constantly changing situation correctly, and quickly sense what lies behind the phenomena to envision the future and decide on the action to be taken.”

Have a productive week ahead!

Aurora C. Ignacio is SSS president and chief executive officer.

We welcome your questions and insights on the topics that we discuss. E-mail mediaaffairs@sss.gov.ph for topics that you might want us to discuss.