Government targets increase in business registrations
The Department of Trade and Industry Regulatory Division in Cebu is visiting municipalities to make it easier for owners to register their businesses. (CDN File)
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is visiting the towns to help entrepreneurs register their business names.
Zaide C. Bation, chief of the DTI regulatory division in Cebu, said DTI eliminates the inconvenience of having to travel to Cebu by going to the municipalities.
“Business owners in the municipalities often do not have their businesses registered because of the expenses in traveling to Cebu for registration and the inconvenience it brings,” she told Cebu Daily News.
So far, the municipalities they have visited in April this year are Oslob and Sibonga in southeast Cebu. They went to Badian in southwest Cebu last May 13.
DTI is scheduled to go to Alegria, also in southwest Cebu last May 20.
Bation said they have the full support of the local government units.
She said the department hopes to fare better in this endeavor compared to their efforts last year.
“Last year was not as extensive. This year, we hope to increase the registrations from municipalities, especially the SMEs (small and medium enterprises),” Zaide said.
“We would like to encourage them to surface and let us help them with their businesses,” she added.
A total of 5,005 entrepreneurs registered their business names with the DTI from January to April this year. From the figure, 3,752 were new business registrations, Bation said.
Bation said that although there was an increase from the estimated 4,900 business name registrations last year, it was negligible at two percent.
“This bodes well for Cebu businesses as the figures indicate stability,” she said.
The DTI Cebu provincial office targets to register 14,876 businesses by December, an increase of 8 percent from the 13,770 business registrations last year.
“We are upbeat at this time,” Bation said.
Registering a business will ensure protection of the business name and allow the owner to participate in government biddings and contracts. A business name registration is also required for the issuance of a business permit by local government units.
Bation said DTI has introduced an online registration scheme to make the process more convenient for entrepreneurs.