ILOILO CITY, Dec. 4 (PNA) — The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the city government of Iloilo launched the first Online Business Registration System, Mobile Money Payment and the Virtual Investment Promotion Center of the city government Thursday as the first in Western Visayas.
Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog said the launching will enhance the online Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) with real mobile payment services for the business tax.
This aims to provide better technological solutions for faster, more efficient and convenient options to the citizenry in transacting with the city government.
USAID INVEST Project for investment empowers pilot partner-cities Batangas, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro and Zamboanga to lower transaction costs and reduce the cost of doing business and increase their competitiveness as investment destination.
The approach consists of building partnership, enhancing capacities among stakeholders, and catalyzing national and local policy to help sustainably competitive cities contribute more to the national government.
Reed Aeschliman, deputy mission director of USAID Philippines, led the USAID commitment in this city.
Felix Tiu, chairman of the Iloilo City Trade and Investment Promotion Board, said the online project launching will signal investors and businessmen to come and invest their money in a convenient way assured by easy online payment of business transactions.
The project will initially cover payment for the second quarter of 2015 with service provider Globe Telecom through its G-Cash services.
Mabilog said that since 2012, the city government has been working to improve the Business Permits and Licensing System (BPLS) with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in order to encourage more investors to do business in the city and streamline the procedures by reducing the number of steps and shorten the processing time of obtaining the business permits.
In January 2014, the city government piloted the online application and submission in renewing business permits.
Likewise, the city pursued a mobile money payment system for financial transactions specifically for business permits and licensing payment.
A live simulation of business registration and mobile payment was conducted by the city government, UPV and Globe X-Change Inc. while a memorandum of understanding was signed between the city government and the University of the Philippines Visayas. (PNA)