DICT launching online portal to ease business registration

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) plans to launch a new online platform that would streamline business registration starting early next year.

The DICT said it plans to make fully operational the Central Business Portal (CBP) by Feb. 14 next year.

The CBP will cover business transactions under the Securities and Exchange Commission.

It is also envisioned to cover transactions under the Department of Trade and Industry, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and even social agencies.

Under Republic Act 11302 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018, the DICT is tasked as the lead agency responsible in establishing, operating, and maintaining the CBP.

The CBP, according to the DICT, is expected to reduce, if not totally eradicate, long queues for physical transactions as the applications are done online and will be completed in five days.

“We want to promote transparency and uphold the ease of doing business. With the CBP, we are ensuring the processing period of business registration-related transactions are shortened,” DICT Secretary Gregorio Honasan said.

Jeremiah Belgica, director general of the Anti-Red Tape Authority, said the launch of the CBP is expected to put an end to corruption in the government.

“With the CBP, there will be no more human intervention. Every signature, every stop that you need to talk to a government employee is always an opportunity for corruption,” Belgica said.

To effectively and efficiently roll-out the CBP, Honasan said the DICT is likewise strengthening its efforts in improving internet connectivity in the country.

The DICT hopes to establish and institutionalize digitalization of government, workforce, workplace, classrooms and communities.

To do this, it has set an overall framework in the planning and implementation of comprehensive ICT policies, enhanced connectivity programs, and reliable cybersecurity to achieve the vision of a digital Philippines.

“The goal is to connect everybody to everybody – government to other governments, government to businesses, government to the citizens, and everybody to each other,” Honasan said.