BAGUIO CITY – The City Council approved on first reading a proposed ordinance creating the Baguio City Business Registry Databank and providing incentives and benefits and for other purposes.
The ordinance authored by Councilor Leandro B. Yangot, Jr. recognizes the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry–Baguio-Benguet Chapter, Inc. (PCCI-BBCI) as the principal communication line of the local government to the business community and in order to facilitate effective communication, improve business information data, rationalize business zoning and keep track of business development, a registry databank should be established to be operated and maintained by the PCCI-BBCI in coordination with the city.
Included in the objectives of the registry databank is the need to improve the local government’s business information data, to rationalize business zoning and to keep track of business developments and investments citywide.
Yangot pointed out the importance of the databank will be for easier access to the business data or information for proposed investments and prospective investors, references for research and development, business expansion, market access, networking, matching, policy-making references, among others.
The ordinance mandated all commercial and industrial establishments applying for business licenses or renewing businesses in the city to furnish the needed data or information as may be determined by the Office of the City Treasury and Permits and Licensing Office in coordination with the PCCI.
It added the information collected through the special databank form attached to the mayor’s permit and licensing form when they apply annually for such business permit will be the encoded in the databank.
Further, the ordinance requires business establishments to submit and update their business information data sheet annually upon applying or renewing their respective business licenses to reflect the most recent and accurate information in the database.
The ordinance empowered the City Treasury Office to collect a uniform amount and additional P75 from every business establishment and remit this to the PCCI-BBCI to be used for the procurement of hardware and software system design and maintenance, administrative and operational expenses of the registry office, promotions and consultancy program of the PCCI-BBCI for the advancement and growth of the micro- small and medium enterprises in the city.
No provision in the said ordinance shall prevent any other individual, business establishment among others from being registered in any other business database of other related business organizations.
PCCI-BBCI is a non-profit and non-stock organization duly registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and accredited by the local government as an active partner in nation-building.
By Dexter A. See