Cebu City Council defers OK of measure to extend validity of business permits

Cebu City Councilor Raymond Garcia (left) assures that the proposed ordinance to extend the validity of business permits to two years will be passed soon. | CDN FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The promise of Cebu City Mayor Edgardo Labella to make business permits valid for two years may not be realized this 2019.

The Cebu City Council has once again deferred the approval of the proposed ordinance to make business permits valid for two years so the establishments will no longer have to renew their permits annually.

Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia, the majority floor leader and proponent of the ordinance, said in a phone interview with CDN Digital that the ordinance failed to get the council’s approval during the session this morning, December 6, 2019. 

Garcia said that the council members would want more time to look into the proposed ordinance, its sections, guidelines, and penalties, to ensure that it would not be abused by business establishments. 

The business permit validity extension has been one of the items in Labella’s to do list when he became the new mayor of Cebu City.

The mayor said this would be convenient to the establishments in the city because they would no longer have to undergo the tedious process of renewal. 

“I don’t see it happening this year,” said Garcia. 

The Council only has two regular sessions left for 2019, and although the ordinance is a priority in the agenda of the mayor, the ordinance is being throughly studied by the council members. 

Garcia assured that although business would still need to renew their permits next year, the proposed ordinance would be passed soon.

He said that the city was determined to make business processes friendlier to the establishments./dbs