DavNor LGUs adopt streamlined BPLS

As of December 2014, all the eight municipalities and three cities in the province of Davao del Norte are already adopting the streamlined Business Process and Licensing System (BPLS) according to a survey conducted by the National Competitiveness Council in the same year.                                                  BPLS refers to the procedures followed by cities and municipalities in processing business permit applications (more commonly known as Mayor’s Permit) which must be secured by a businessman to operate legally in a certain locality. It is a joint project of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) which was launched last 2011 with a primary goal of improving the ease of starting and doing business in the country by simplifying and harmonizing the process of securing business permits and licenses. The key features of the national BPLS standards set forth  in the DTI-DILG Joint Memorandum Circular includes adoption of the BPLS Unified Form, reduction in the number of signatories, limiting the number of steps to a maximum of five and reduced processing time to five days for new applications and less than a day for renewals. A local government unit is considered adopting the streamlined BPLS if it satisfies one or more of the standards specified above. This development in the province’s business licensing system is expected to encourage more investors to put up businesses in Davao del Norte and the local residents to engage in profit generating activities thus creating more jobs and improving the quality of life in the area. The National Competitiveness Council is the body tasked to monitor the implementation of the standardized BPLS in the country.