GenTri City Mayor Jon-jon Ferrer IV (left, seated) and Vice Mayor Jonas Labuguen (right, seated) signed City Ordinance No. 22-46 exempting various stores in the locality from the payment of a business permit for the year 2023. Photo by Dennis Abrina
GenTri exempts sari-sari stores from biz tax
GENERAL TRIAS CITY (GenTri), Cavite – Mayor Luis “Jon-jon” Ferrer IV and the City Council led by Vice Mayor Jonas Labuguen approved City Ordinance No. 22-46 exempts various stores in the locality from the payment of a business permit for the year 2023.
The ordinance was authored by Councilor Alfred Ching, chair of the Committee on Commerce, Trade and Industry, to help small businesses recover from the effects of the (COVID-19) pandemic and make their business legal in the city through the said ordinance
To get tax relief from the local government, sari-sari store owners can go to the Business One-Stop, 2nd Floor, Robinsons Place General Trias in Barangay Tejero to apply for barangay business clearance and submit their valid Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Registration as a “sari-sari store,” as well as a picture of their store.
At the same time, Mayor Ferrer, Vice-Mayor Labuguen, and Sangguniang Panlungsod members also signed City Ordinance No. 22-39, which gives micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sufficient time to comply with the requirements to obtain a business permit.
Under this ordinance, MSMEs can be granted a Provisional LGU (local government unit) Integrated Permit to do business as long as they do not sell or store highly-combustible materials and hazardous chemicals; they are also not involved in the extraction/generation or distribution of water and electricity; their business establishment does not exceed two storeys in height, and the area does not exceed 500 square meters; the business must not obstruct/encroach on any public or private road or sidewalk; also not harmful to public health, peace and order and nature; the business conducted is not contrary to public morals; and no derogatory record or formal complaint filed in the Barangay and any government office against their business.
This is the second year that the sari-sari store owners have been granted exemption from this program by the local government here since the start of the pandemic in the country.
