Improving ease of doing business to be joint effort

MANILA, Philippines — The process of improving the ease of doing business in the country would involve the participation of state agencies and the local government units, according to the Department of Finance (DOF).

In an interview, Finance Undersecretary and chief economist Gil Beltran told reporters improving the ease of doing business in the Philippines involves the cooperation and coordination of the different offices of the government.

“It involves a lot of agencies and you cannot just move alone,” Beltran said.

For one, Beltran said the ongoing reforms of the finance department in this area are being coordinated closely with other state agencies.

“We are launching the National Single Window that connects 76 agencies to the Bureau of Customs. We are also fully operating the credit information system under the Securities and Exchange Commission, also a moveable collateral registry under the Land Registration Authority,” Beltran said.

The National Single Window is a government platform which will be interconnected to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Single Window, a regional initiative that aims to speed up cargo clearances and enable the electronic exchange of border documents among ASEAN member-states.

The credit information system, meanwhile, provides a database on the credit history and standing of borrowers.

In addition, Beltran said the planned Philippine Business Database System would also connect to the SEC’s automated corporate registry system.

The National Warehouse Receipts System, which will be launched once legislated in Congress, will be under the SEC. This involves the establishment of a computerized central registry for all warehouse receipts, which are used by farmers and other members of the agriculture sector as collateral to obtain credit.