THE Marikina City Government’s efforts to make business permitting and licensing a lot easier for Marikeños did not go unnoticed as the city government has just been recognized for fully setting up an Electronic Business One-Stop Shop (eBOSS) and introducing helpful reforms and technologies that enabled more seamless and efficient business processes.

On Monday, May 8, Marikina Mayor Marcelino “Marcy” Teodoro received a “Certificate of Commendation” from the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), recognizing the city as being “one of the exemplary Local Government Units (LGUs) in the streamlining and simplification of business permitting and licensing procedures and fully setting up an eBOSS.”

“Nakita niyo naman kung ano ang nagagawa kung nag-uusap ang lokal at ang nasyonal na pamahalaan,” Mayor Marcy expressed.

The mayor highlighted the importance of the “whole-of-government” approach, which is the coordinated and collaborative effort by all branches, departments, and agencies in the government to address the complex problem of society.

“Kinikilala natin sa Marikina ang pamamaraang whole-of-government approach sa pagsasakatuparan ng ating mga proyekto. Sa pag-streamline ng ating business registration processes, kailangan ay tamang pagkakataon para buo nating maipatupad ito,” said Teodoro.

“Naniniwala akong hindi ito madali para sa ilang tanggapan at ahensiyang kabahagi sa ating sistema ng e-BOSS subalit mayroon tayong pagkakaisa para maisakatuparan itong mabuti. We would work together,” he went on.

According to ARTA, the City Government has “successfully implemented all functionalities in setting up the eBOSS” as required by the law and as further stated in ARTA, Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Information and Communications Technology’s (DICT) Joint Memorandum Circular No. 01, series of 2021, and Republic Act (RA) No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 thereby providing quality and efficient service to the public.

To note, only seven of the 16 cities and one municipality in the National Capital Region (NCR) were able to comply, and ARTA applauded Marikina City “for setting the standards among the cities and municipalities.”

“Isang napakagandang oportunidad sa Anti-Red Tape Authority na i-recognize ang Marikina as one of the seven out of the 17 cities and municipality in the National Capital Region, to comply with the requirement,” said ARTA OIC (Officer-in-Charge) Director General Ernesto Perez.

“We are so happy to recognize Marikina and award the Certificate of Recognition. We feel that we really have to encourage all LGUs to set up and operationalize this Electronic Business One-Stop Shop,” he said.

Perez noted that based on their experience and records, those that have complied with such requirements showed an increase in the number of registration and revenue collections.

He then encouraged the other LGUs to follow the example set by Marikina City, as he praised Mayor Marcy’s political will and commitment.

“We would like to call other LGUs to follow suit because if all LGUs comply with this requirement, it will really result in the improvement of our economy, increase the revenue collections of LGUs, and increase in the revenue registrations of LGUs,” he further stated.