New Schedule Of Business Permitting And Licensing At DTI NERBAC - 7

The Department of Trade and Industry’s National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center in Region 7 (DTI NERBAC – 7) announces that, effective January 14 this year, the BIR, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG will be posting their representatives at the NERBAC only in the morning (8:00 am to 12:00), from Monday to Friday.

With the very limited staff of the four mandatory agencies, resulting from the implementation of the Rationalization Law, the BIR, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG are presently unable to detail their representatives on a whole day basis (8:00 am to 5:00pm), from Monday to Friday, at the NERBAC until the volume of transactions would justify the hiring of additional personnel.

It is to be recalled that DTI-NERBAC-7, as a one-stop-shop for business registration (for sole proprietorships), permitting and licensing has already been operating since October of last year, with the Cebu City Government and the four mandatory agencies, the BIR, SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG, having their respective representatives posted at the NERBAC 7 office which is located at LDM Bldg., Lapu-lapu St. cor Legazpi Sts., Cebu City.

Processing and procurement of the Cebu City Mayor’s Permit by new partnerships, corporations and cooperatives, as well as new licenses involving the four mandatory agencies, as mentioned, can be done at the DTI NERBAC 7 office.

With NERBAC as a one-stop-shop, new applicants for business permits and licenses are spared from the tedious process which they had to go through without the NERBAC facility. This process involves registering their business names with DTI and securing a business or Mayor’s permit from the Cebu City Hall (for Cebu City based businesses) and registering with the four mandatory agencies in separate locations.

Housing these six (6) offices under one roof would really be a great relief for applicants who would register their new businesses, as they will be saving not only the cost of going from one office to another, but also valued time.

As improvements in the operations of NERBAC progress, rolling out the reforms in the BPLS out to other provinces, cities and municipalities of Region 7 are now contemplated, in the hope of creating a uniform process flow for business registration, permitting and licensing throughout Region 7, with the end goal of improving the overall investment climate. (ends)

Central Visayas lists one of lowest unemployment rates among regions

Unemployment rate in Central Visayas dropped to about 5.9 percent as of October 2007, compared to the 7.5% in the same period in 2006, says the latest NSO labor force statistic report.

According the report, underemployment (those persons that desires additional hours of work) also dropped to 11.3 percent in 2007, the second lowest among the country's 17 regions. In 2006, region 7's underemployment rate hit 17.8 percent.

Nationwide unemployment also dropped to 6.3 from 7.3 percent. Among the regions, only the NCR recorded a double-digit unemployment rate of 10.6 percent, the highest among the regions, said the NSO report.

According to the report, more than half of those unemployed nationwide were men at 63.5% and 46.2% of all jobless persons had attended high school. Those that managed to reach college were not also better off, they accounted for 39.5% of the unemployed.

The Cagayan Valley region reported to have the highest employment rate at 97.7 percent. Central Visayas has 94.1 percent, lower than the employment rates reported in the Zamboanga Peninsula, Eastern Visayas and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, among others,

The report further said that of the estimated 35.9 million people in the country's labor force, 93.7 percent were employed or 9 out of 10 persons were employed.

Laborers, unskilled workers, farmers and fishers make up about half of all workers. Nearly 50% (48.8) were in the services sector; 36.1% were in the agriculture and the rest, 15.1% were in the industry sector, the NSO report went on.

Finally, about 6.1 million of all workers were underemployed, placing the national underemployment rate at 18.1% in 2007 or lower than the 2006 estimates of 20.4 percent. (PIA)

Cebu outsourcing facility opened by India’s Wipro

GLOBAL IT SERVICE provider Wipro Technologies has set up shop in the Philippines, opening a business process outsourcing (BPO) center in Cebu.

The Bangalore-based company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, plans to hire some 900 employees for the 45,000 square-foot facility. Officials said it was also looking at establishing additional centers in other fast-growing Philippine cities.

"The Philippines is one of the largest English-speaking nations and with a talent pool of 29 million. This is one location that we definitely want to expand our presence in," Wipro BPO President T.K. Kurien said in a statement.

The firm did not detail its Cebu investment, nor its Philippine plans. Company officials were not available for comment as of presstime.

Wipro BPO Vice-President Sanjeev Bhatia, in the statement, said the Cebu facility would address the requirements of a global market.

"Our business objective is to enable delivery of multilingual services to our global customer base. With a strong and robust game plan for the year, we are very clear in announcing Wipro’s arrival towards global serviceability, and Philippines is a major milestone in this journey" he added.

In a telephone interview, CB Richard Ellis Philippines director Ryan Isip said the property management firm had been tapped as lease manager.

"Wipro will locate at Cebu IT Plaza. The province was their preference. They are also interested in looking at other provincial sites," he told BusinessWorld.

Cebu, said Mr. Isip, has gone beyond being a premier tourist destination as it is now the second most popular Philippine destination for BPO companies next to Metro Manila.

Wipro’s move to locate in Cebu, said Business Processing Association Philippines executive director Mitchell Locsin, "It shows the Philippines continues to grow and attract global outsourcing companies.

"This is good for the country; they are employing thousands of people. We welcome them." — BW