Twelve government agencies, including the Social Security System (SSS), gathered on April 14 at the JV del Rosario Hall of the AIM Conference Center in Makati City for the signing ceremonies and formal launching of reforms under the National Competitiveness Council (NCC)’s Gameplan 3.0 synergizing government processes related to easing the conduct of business in the Philippines. The other agencies were the Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), National Competitiveness Council (NCC), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP)and Quezon City Local Government.
Gameplan 3.0 streamlines and simplifies government process across 10 transactions in order to ease the way of doing business in the Philippines. From the current set up of 16 steps and 34 days to start a business, the process is now reduced to 6 steps and 8 days. The reforms include the merging of several steps together to create single-window applications powered by more interconnectivity across IT systems of different agencies, removal of several outdated procedures and the introduction of enhanced one-stop-shop procedures in local government units.
Payroll-related payments to Pag-IBIG and PhilHealth for companies with more than 10 employees are also being moved online, following the SSS which has already implemented the same procedure since last year. Online banking facilities at Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines that require no minimum average daily balance for these transactions are being made available for enterprises reducing the number of payments from 36 to 13 per year, which would mean significant time and cost savings for businesses and entrepreneurs.
Pilot implementation of the reforms started at the SEC’s Manila Office last April and will continue in the succeeding months across all SEC offices. Full on-line system, on the other hand, will be made available by 2016.
Photo above shows (from left) DBP President Gil Buenaventura, Land Bank President Gilda Pico, Pag-IBIG Fund President Darlene Berberabe, PhilHealth President Alexander Padilla, SSS President Emilio S. de Quiros, Jr., SEC Chairperson Teresita Herbosa, BIR President Kim Jacinto-Henares, DOF Secretary Cesar Purisima, Cabinet Secretary Jose Rene Almendras, DTI Secretary Gregory Domingo, NCC Co-Chairman Guillermo Luz, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero.
