Starting Out

Filipinos beamed with optimism when the son of late Sen. Benigno Aquino and the late Pres. Cory Aquino became President of the Philippines last year. He is not the most qualified among the presidential candidates but most people see hope that he can change the corrupt-culture that has entrenched itself in Philippines politics.

I did not vote for him but as a the President of our country, I have wished him well.

His campaign slogan was 'kung wala korap, walang mahirap', or 'if there is no corruption, they will be no poor' Filipinos. It was by itself a superficial analysis... but hey, it would help in making easier to do business in the Philippines, I am all for it.

Sadly, after nearly a year in office, it was all rhetoric. Let me elaborate:

Almost 90% of the jobs being generated come from Small to Medium Scale Enterprises (or SMEs). Thus, government should focus more on helping them out. Aside from making it easier for SME's to register their businesses, there should be a concerted effort in promoting Filipinos to create and venture into their own businesses.

Alas, this is not the case. While I understand that local government units have their own charters and laws when it comes to business registration, it becomes a pain in the a$& when there is no common procedure on how to go about registering a business on the local level.

It took us more than 2 weeks and several trips to the City Hall going to different floors to get a business permit where the time could have been actually spent in marketing our business and getting clients to come to us.

Wouldn't be easier if all LGU's adopt a one-stop shop where business owners can register their business and get the permits within 24-48 hours? It would be very easy to implement that; and it will also lessen the corruption at the local level.

What am I saying? If want to create more business opportunities, it would help to make the registration of businesses a lot easier. The national government should take the lead on this. If it doesn't or it invokes LGU autonomy what will happen to the Public-Private Partnership program it wants to pursue? The Private entitites must register their businesses with the LGU's they want to do business in.

A concerted effort must be made to streamline national and local business registration. I believe that if only all Filipinos register their businesses and the government make it easier for them to pay taxes, the national government will have enough funds to pursue social programs that will ensure to improve Filipinos lives.