SBMA: Measures promoting ‘ease of doing business’ already in place

The Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) clarified on Friday that it has put in place significant measures to improve locator services in the Subic Bay Freeport in line with President Duterte’s directive for agencies to simplify business procedures and expedite transactions.

SBMA Chairman and Administrator Wilma T. Eisma said among the measures already implemented by the Subic agency are extending the validity of business permits from one to three years, and establishing one-stop shops to automate the processing of permit renewals.

“We have operationalized these measures last year, which was also the time when President Duterte approved Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018,” Eisma pointed out.

“In fact, we established the One-Stop Shop Business Processing Center (OSSBPC) in February 2018 and then released the first batch of the three-year Certificates of Registration and Tax Exemption (CRTEs) in June last year. RA 11032 was approved in May,” she said.

“Then following the issuance this July of the implementing rules and regulations for RA 11032, we formed our anti-red tape unit with key officials as members, and also created three technical working groups to oversee compliance with the law,” she added.

The SBMA official cited these initiatives in the wake of a report that some businessmen here were urging the Subic agency to “adhere to the ‘ease of doing business’ law.” (RAV/MPD-SBMA)