The “One Stop Documentation Center,” which will be in operation until Jan. 20, is held annually to hasten the renewal of business permits.
City Administrator Rodrigo O. Salangsang said next year’s venue will be transferred to the City Hall and the adjacent oval covered court instead of the usual Lagao Gymnasium, which he said is “quite far” for most businessmen.
Applications for permits for new businesses, he said, will be processed by the City Economic Management and Cooperative Development Office while the renewals by the Business Permits and Licenses Division.
Renewing business permits here used to take a very long time, prompting businessmen to complain. To get the job done, there are over a dozen requirements that require the signatures of officials from various local and national government agencies which, unfortunately, are scattered all over the city.
The city government thus came up with the “one stop shop” where representatives of these various agencies, for a limited period of time, are grouped together in one place.
National government agencies represented are the Department of Trade and Industry, Social Security System, Philippine Health Insurance Corp., Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig), Bureau of Internal Revenue and Bureau of Fire Protection.
From the local government are the City Planning and Development Office, City Engineer’s Office, City Health Office, City Treasurer’s Office and Community Environment and Natural Resources Office.
Police and barangay clearances could also be processed at the one-stop shop.
