Parañaque offers express lane for business permits

MANILA, Philippines — Parañaque became the first city in the country to fully comply with President Duterte’s directive to simplify business permit processes with the recent formal launching of Project Express Lane Operation (ELO) 2.0.

Project ELO 2.0 also includes the computerization of the occupational work permit in the city, thus cutting the process from 10 steps to four steps.

Parañaque Mayor Edwin Olivarez said the city is the first local government unit to integrate the barangay business clearance in their BOSS (business one-stop shop) operations in city hall, making the city fully compliant with RA 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business Act.

“This is a game changer,” Olivarez said. “This should boost our ongoing efforts to digitize and computerize all our systems, especially those involving applications for business and work permits, which will enhance investor confidence and improve service delivery.”

He said the project “is the fruit of our efforts to raise the bar of service delivery to our people.” It brings together several innovative IT solutions into Parañaque’s pioneering concierge system, effectively redefining what it means to be business friendly.

Project ELO 2.0 is the second phase of the city’s Project ELO launched last January in compliance with Republic Act 11032 signed by Duterte in May 2018.

Business Permits and Licensing Office head Melanie Malaya said ELO 2.0 also consolidates workers’ work permit, sanitary or health permit and police clearance.

Once done, the worker will be given the Parañaque HELP card, an identification card that unifies the occupational permit, health certificate and the police clearance.

Olivarez prides the HELP card as the first of its kind in the country. The system provides for online application and scheduling, uploading of pictures, bulk printing of occupational IDs for large firms, full integration with the business permits and licensing system, off-site availability (including payments) and no-contact processing through the Smart Kiosk.

“The Smart Kiosk is a self-service facility which allows a client to print an application form for renewal of business permit, and the statement of account for the quarterly payments of business taxes and fees. Printing can be done either by using a QR Code or the use of the client’s business identification number,” said Malaya.

Another unique feature of Project ELO 2.0 is the document management system, where scanned documents are kept in a central storage that can be accessed anytime by business permit applicants.