DTI-Leyte awarded Best Sub-National Reform in Asia for success in BPLS

The Leyte Provincial Office of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has been awarded the Best Sub-National Reform in Asia for 2006 by the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) for its involvement in the Streamlining Business Permits and Licensing (BPL) Procedures in Ormoc City under its partnership program with the German Technical Cooperation- Small and Medium Enterprise Development for Sustainable Employment Program (GTZ-SMEDSEP) .

The awards program, known as the "Excellence in Business Environment Reform", aims to highlight excellence in high-impact, sustainable and co-ordinated donor support for business environment reform. For 2006, the award focused on best practices in Asia.

There were only two categories of awards for 2006: the High-Impact, Sustainable and Co-ordinated Reform which is the main award; and the Sub-National which focuses on the reforms within sub-national government authorities such as local municipalities or regional or
provincial government authorities and efforts towards local level implementation of central level reform decrees.

DTI-Leyte beat out best practice entries of other Asian countries in the sub-national category for the impact its reform project on business registration in Ormoc City has had on enterprise development, poverty reduction and economic growth; how it has improved the capability of key agencies to identify reform needs and manage change without future active support by donor agencies; and how coordinated it is to the efforts of other donor agencies as well as aligned to the development goals and strategies of the national government.

With the assistance of DTI-Leyte and GTZ-SMEDSEP, the local government unit (LGU) of Ormoc City was able to simplify the city's business permits and licensing procedures. As a result, an increase of 25% business registrants was realized by year 2006 compared to 2005.

The improved business registration figure was attributed to the reduction of the BPL cycle from 17 to 5 steps; reduction in processing time from 17 days to 2 days; and reduction of required documents from 12 to 6 forms. Moreover, the LGU-Ormoc realized an increase in tax revenues (Php21.16 Million) out of the new improved system. This increase in revenue collection of LGU-Ormoc was then transformed to social services that will uplift the urban poverty
incidence of the City.

The new BPL system adopted by the LGU of Ormoc City is continuously being improved towards installing an on-line business registration in the future. Part of the accrued increase on revenue collection will be utilized for this purpose as part of its sustainability plan. Consequently, the support of donor agencies will no longer be needed to implement the plan.

The experience of LGU-Ormoc is now a documented good practice in streamlining BPL which can be replicated in other LGUs. It will be implemented by DTI Provincial Offices in Visayas or Central Philippines Region hand-in-hand with the various LGUs, both at the provincial and municipal levels.

The reform project of DTI-Leyte complements the efforts of donor agencies as its multiplier effect would ultimately reduce poverty; promote good governance and private sector development which are also the concerns of various donor agencies. It is also aligned with the SME Development Agenda of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo which fully supports the promotion and development of small and medium enterprises by providing an enabling business environment. (DTI)