THE DEPARTMENT of Trade and Industry in the Davao Region is looking to one-up  the directive of President Benigno C. Aquino III in his State of the Nation Address to cut the processing time for business name registration to just 15 minutes.

“The DTI (regional office) per se can definitely ensure we can process business name registration in just 10 minutes,” Marison Loreto, regional director of the agency, but she added there are other government line agencies involved like the Pag-IBIG Home Development Mutual Fund, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Health Insurance Commission in the process.

The regional trade office, she said, will sit down with the other signatories in the business name registration to discuss how they can follow the President’s mandate.

In his Sona speech, Mr. Aquino said registering business names takes a minimum of 4-8 hours, depending on the time of day but his administration will find ways to cut it down to just 15 minutes.

The list of documents will also be reduced from the current 36 to six, while the eight-page document will be whittled down to one page, he said.

The President then urged local government units to review their procedures and implement reforms consistent with the vision of the national government.

Jason Magnaye, Davao City Investment and Tourism Center chief, pointed to the order of Mr. Aquino for the local government units to streamline the bureaucracy to make its more investor-friendly.

That’s what the city government is also committed to do. Drastic reduction in the processing time of public transactions is possible with the various technologies available, he said.

Stephen A. Antig, PBGEA president: “I am definitely in favor of streamlining the bureaucracy most especially getting rid of the consultants.”

Meanwhile, Mayor Sara D. Carpio said the local government of Davao City has already installed mechanisms to streamline processing of business permits and other fees. She said the onus is for the applicants to comply with all the requirements.
The Asian Institute for Management recognized Davao City as the most supportive of micro, small and medium enterprises in July this year as well as offering the best quality of life among all the other cities included in the survey.

The AIM based its ranking on the following indicators: dynamism of the economy, quality of life, infrastructure, responsiveness to business needs, cost of doing business and human resources.