ILOILO City – The Business Permits and Licensing Office (BLPO) here is open on Saturdays and Sundays to accommodate applicants for the renewal of business permits until the Jan. 20 deadline.
Norman Tabud, head of the Business Permits and Licensing Office, said that the move will give business owners ample time to process their documents.
“We have leveled up our services in the issuance of permits,” Tabud said in an interview on Thursday.
He said together with the business permits, the applicants will also be issued with their Fire Safety Inspection Certificate, sanitary permit and tourism permit.
“So upon release of business permit, we will also release all other permits and licenses of the business establishment,” he added.
However, Tabud also said business establishments still have to apply at the tourism office for their license and at the City Health Office for the sanitary permit.
Last year, the BPLO issued permits to 16,391 businesses.
Meanwhile, the BPLO is hoping to issue permits for 2,000 more establishments this year.
The target businesses include mostly trading, retail and wholesale, and services.
Since the city is marketed as a MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences/conventions, exhibitions/events) destination, then the local government is also expecting a boom in tourism-related services, food, and accommodation.
Tabud said the local government also recognized the presence of online services, mobile canteen/food truck business.
He cited the need to have an ordinance to regulate not just ambulant vendors, but also those who are using the online platform.
“We need to strategize to encourage online businesses to secure business permits,” he said.
As this developed, Iloilo City mayor Jerry Treñas signed Memorandum Circular No. 223 for the BPLO, Bureau of Fire Protection, City Tourism and Development Office, and the City Treasurer’s Office to conduct “a joint inspection of all business establishments operating in the city of Iloilo” effective Jan. 21.
Treñas said he was “surprised and dismayed” upon learning that there was one business that has been engaging in siphoning services, but has no permit from the city.
“It was all over the city yet our people in the ‘permits’ do not even know,” he said.
Treñas also added that all businesses operating in the city has to secure their permits. (With a report from PNA/PN)
