Business blues
So we are way down in the list of Ease of Doing Business, and Manila is in the bottom of the sustainable cities index, ranking 95 out of 100.
For the first category, our government officials quibble about whether we should be ranked higher by a few points, but who cares? The fact remains we are still in the bottom. Despite this lamentable score, we have the gall to demand to correct the ranking.
Way to go, Philippine government. Spend some more of your time tackling ranks and analyzing the methodology instead of buckling down and figuring out how to make doing business in the country easy. For sure, our rankings will improve. Great job! (I’m not being serious here, okay?).
It would be a better for us to figure out how we can help businesses, especially smaller ones, navigate the cumbersome rules. How did India jump 23 spots to number 77? What was their magic formula? What can we improve?
Think about it. To form a company, all sorts of documents have to be submitted to the SEC. Bank documents have to be filed, which means requirements have to be submitted to the selected bank, which means more paperwork. Signatories have to get their own cedulas and TINs, meaning more delay.
Even after incorporating a company, there’s more! Mayor’s permits have to be processed, which means submitting the SEC papers, and then paying some more fees for the “privilege” to do business there. Now that is a nightmare in itself, what with having to trudge through different departments all wanting to see some document you have to get somewhere else and which they don’t necessarily need to see.
If I were the city, I would make it damn easy for an entrepreneur to set up shop in my corner. But that isn’t the way it usually works, and dull-eyed clerks shuffle your papers around without enthusiasm (and if you make the mistake of filing at the end of the day, you would be lucky if you found our dedicated civil servants still at their desks. Sometimes, they would have already retouched their make-up and packed their bags an hour before the bell).
After the mayor’s permit (in that one city, and one can imagine how much more tedious it is if you want to establish branches nationwide), it’s not over yet! There’s tax registration, and getting tax forms for all the filings you think you will need - why, one needs an army of accountants and tax advisers just to figure out what taxes one needs to pay, when to pay them, and what forms to fill up!
Are we done yet? Unfortunately, no. Official receipts have to be approved by the BIR, and last I heard, that was a process that needed to be done only with accredited suppliers of receipts. Ordinary printing companies won’t do, that would be a sin! The collectors are so suspicious that they need to be able to trust the printing companies.
Next, employees have to be registered with PhilHealth and SSS. More forms have to be filled in. More requirements submitted.
Oh. And eventually, trade names or trademarks need their own protection, which means filing at the Intellectual Property Office for a process that could take a chunk of time (but one doesn’t need to worry about them if the plan isn’t to go big, so the modest in ambition can rest easy).
So is it easy to do business here? What do you think?
Our legislators have already passed a law (RA 11032) requiring government agencies to process applications within expedited time periods. Trust me, most agencies took one look at the law and laughed. Even after the effectivity of the law this June, almost none of them have implemented it. Most probably, they delegated the task of creating “implementing rules” to various sub-committees, there to languish until death by forgetfulness takes it to its sad but foreseeable end.
So will we be in the top 100 next year? Don’t hold your breath.
- Latest
