By: Amy R. Remo
In a presentation yesterday, Trade Undersecretary Nora K. Terrado disclosed that the DTI was pursuing three “breakthrough” goals, namely increasing the country’s competitiveness; promoting ease of doing business; and heightening consumer awareness.
These goals were said to have the biggest impact on the micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs), which comprise about 99 percent of registered business in the Philippines.
The DTI is focusing on MSMEs as part of the campaign to make economic growth felt at the grassroots level.
To promote ease of doing business, the DTI has been implementing since 2010 programs to streamline registration processes.
In 2010, the DTI introduced the Electronic Business Name Registration System or EBNRS under which the application for a business name takes only 15 minutes, and requires a one-page application form and one signature compared to the previous application scheme.
In total, entrepreneurs can get their DTI Business Name Registration Certificate in 30 minutes.
In January 2012, the DTI introduced the Philippine Business Registry or PBR to link the EBNRS with the registration processes of other line agencies such as the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Social Security System (SSS), Home Mutual Development Fund (HMDF), Philippine Health Insurance Corp (PhilHealth), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and local governments such as Quezon City.
In the same year, the DTI also implemented an electronic payment scheme for business name registration.
In April this year, 12 government agencies including the DTI unveiled more reforms to further simplify the process of starting a business to six steps and eight days, down from the previous set-up requiring 16 steps and 34 days.
Meanwhile, in terms of increasing the country’s competitiveness, the Philippines has already hit its goal of reaching the top third in global rankings, a year ahead of its target date.
This is based on the latest World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Competitiveness Index, which showed the Philippines rising five notches to 47th out of the 140 economies assessed.
For its third breakthrough goal, the DTI targets to hit 80 percent in consumer awareness by next year.
In 2013, this figure stood at 66 percent.
Other public sector institutions that were named “Islands of Good Governance” are the Armed Forces of the Philippines; Philippine Army; Philippine Navy; National Electrification Administration; Philippine Heart Center; and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Also named were the city governments of Balanga, Butuan, Dipolog, Mandaue and Talisay.