BACOLOD City – Members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod urged the Permits and Licensing Division of the city government to ensure that establishments here operate with business permits.
A strict compliance monitoring is necessary, and this benefits the business establishments and their customers, the city councilors said in a resolution.
A business permit is “a strong indicator of the seriousness of business owners to be legitimate,” stated the resolution authored by Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr.
This also means that the establishment is “of good standing in terms of its willingness to pay taxes” and that “the financial health of the company is good, thereby assuring its clientele of legitimate service.”
The councilors passed the resolution amid the recent discovery of the Permits and Licensing Division that several businesses in the city have been operating while committing business permit violations.
One of them on 6th Street, Barangay 7 was caught using a fake permit while another on B.S. Aquino Drive, Barangay Villamonte did not have one at all, the division head Stela Rose Rayos said on Nov. 14.
These businesses have been padlocked by the Enforcement Unit of the City Legal Office but have recently reopened after securing their permits.
Ten more businesses along Burgos Street were recently found without business permit. Rayos’ office recommended their closure to the CLO.
Local governments must “initiate and maximize the generation of resources and revenues, and apply the same for the implementation of development plans, program objectives and priorities,” the city council said, citing Section 455 of the Local Government Code.
They should also “issue licenses and permits, and suspend or revoke the same for any violation of the conditions upon which these had been issued, pursuant to law or ordinance,” the council added.
The Sangguniang Panlungsod assured that the local government has a “business registration system [with] an online application component, a one-stop-shop system that evidently reduces the cost of doing business.”/PN
