MUNTINLUPA NAMED MOST BUSINESS-FRIENDLY LGU

For the second consecutive year, the Muntinlupa City government has been named the Most Business-Friendly Local Government Unit (LGU) by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI).

Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi received the award from President Duterte during the 44th Business Conference held at the Manila Hotel on Thursday.

PCCI president Alegria Limjoco lauded the city’s “initiatives and reforms in improving the delivery of service to the business community.”

As an incentive, investment company CDC Holdings Inc. will be constructing a school building in Muntinlupa which was also recognized in 2017 as the most business-friendly highly urbanized city.

Criteria

The other winning LGUs were Tagbilaran City in Bohol province, Calaca town in Batangas province, and Bataan province.

They bested other LGUs in the following criteria: fasttracking sustainable local economic development, improvement of ease of doing business, investment promotion initiatives, and initiatives to enhance industry and sectoral competitiveness.

Muntinlupa City has been implementing the Single-Win- dow Transaction-Muntinlupa Business One-Stop Shop which processes business permit applications and renewals within 15 minutes.

Its Tulong Negosyo program also helps micro, small and medium enterprises by offering zero-percent interest loans of up to P150,000.

The city has released P77 million in loan assistance to 5,600 beneficiaries with a 95percent repayment rate.

The annual award, which is supported by the Department of the Interior and Local Government, recognizes LGUs that have demonstrated outstanding efforts in areas of investment promotions, compliance with the antired tape law and fiscal transparency.