DTI TAPS E-PAYMENT PLATFORMS FOR BIZ NAME REGISTRATION

The Department of Trade and Industry has partnered with online payment platforms GCash, PayMaya and LinkBiz to enable businesses to transact with the agency online

IT WILL now be easier for sole proprietors to register their business names.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has partnered with online payment platforms GCash, PayMaya and LinkBiz to enable businesses to transact with the agency online.

“(We want to) promote a zero-contact policy and encourage end-to-end registration for the convenience of the transacting public,” DTI Cebu Provincial Director Esperanza Melgar said.

“Hopefully yes, as this is the DTI’s advocacy under the ease of doing business,” she said, referring to the eventual increase in online transactions among sole proprietors.

According to Melgar, the DTI’s integration with PayMaya is still ongoing.

“We are targeting to have it live within the week,” she said.

Melgar said the DTI Cebu is already a merchant of Landbank’s LinkBiz, while the agency is already using the services of GCash.

Because of this technology intervention, business name applicants no longer need to visit DTI offices to register. They can instead transact online.

“Long queues and inefficient and slow services will soon be a thing of the past in government,” Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez earlier said in a statement.

“At DTI, we are constantly improving our frontline services to become at par with international standards. Our agreement with ePayment platforms completes our Business Name Registration system as we are now able to provide our citizens the convenience of having to transact with DTI through their mobile phones in the comfort of their homes, or wherever they are, 24/7.”

This initiative is in compliance with Republic Act 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.

The law says that “all government agencies shall develop electronic versions of licenses, clearances, permits, certifications or authorizations with the same level of authority as that of the signed hard copy, which may be printed by the applicants or requesting parties in the convenience of their offices.”

“We are proud to be pioneering e-government by being one of the first to provide the public the experience of an end-to-end registration and making available various online payment options such as e-wallet, online banking or credit/debit cards. Automation is key to good governance. Through automation, we will provide easier, faster, and better service,” Lopez said.

PayMaya is the financial technology arm of Voyager Innovations, a technology company in the country backed by PLDT, KKR, Tencent, the World Bank’s IFC and the IFC Emerging Asia Fund. GCash, on the other hand, is a subsidiary of Mynt (Globe Fintech Innovations).

Long queues and inefficient and slow services will soon be a thing of the past in government. TRADE SECRETARY RAMON LOPEZ