| Photo by Mary Rose Sagarino
Lawyer Lizer Malate, head of the Mandaue City Business Permit Licensing Office , reported a 41 percent increase in the number of business permits that they issued this year as compared to the number that was reported in the last two years. “Pagsulod nato no, ato gyud gi restructure ang processing, diba from 16 to 19 steps, gihimo nato’ng 3 steps nalang: application, assessment, issuance na dayun. Sa una paabot pa man tog regulatory clearances karun dili naman. Post-audit na ta ana. Mao sad siguro’ng nisaka sad ta.”, Malate said.
Malate said that the increase also translates to an increase in the city’s tax collection. For the first eight months of 2020, BPLO already collected more than P1 billion in taxes, the majority of which was collected prior to the January deadline for the submission of business permit applications.