Secretary Ernesto Perez, director general of Arta, said the public can also expect seamless government service and a simplified way of starting a business.
“When people know that it is easier to deal business, the economy will grow even better,” Perez told SunStar Cebu on Friday, May 12, 2023.
He said they seek to extend the scope of the government’s streamlining and digitization program to ensure speedier response times in government transactions.
The Arta office’s jurisdiction covers Central (Region 7) and Eastern Visayas (Region 8).
Digitalization
In his speech, Perez said the new field office will keep an eye on how well all government agencies are following the requirements for conducting both business and non-business transactions by implementing Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business Law, in Region 7 and Region 8.
The law requires each local government unit (LGU) to create an Electronic Business One-Stop Shop (eBOSS).
This is supposed to digitalize business permitting and licensing systems, allowing LGUs to issue tax bills, orders of payment, permits, licenses and clearances, and accept applications and payments online.
“Once the LGUs are able to set up and operationalize an end-to-end process from the filing of application, submission of requirements, the processing, the payment and printing of mayor’s permit should be done online,” said the director general.
Hours before the inauguration of the new field office on Friday, Arta officials awarded the Lapu-Lapu City Government for being the first LGU in the Visayas and Mindanao to operate the eBOSS.
Perez encouraged the rest of the LGUs in the region, especially Cebu City, to replicate what Lapu-Lapu City has done.
Business-friendly
He said aspiring entrepreneurs and existing business owners now do not need to go to the city or municipal hall to get a business permit.
He said businessmen are often put off by needless steps and protracted waiting time when dealing with government transactions, but when “it is easier for them dealing with the local government by securing business permit from the comfort of their homes, they will voluntarily register their business.”
Kalvin Laurence Parpan, Philtower Consortium Inc.’s director of external affairs, believed that reducing bureaucratic procedures would greatly benefit the business sector.
“Because of the efficiency that Arta has been extending not just to tower companies but to the whole telecommunications industry, the ease of doing business in this sector has been really relevant,” he said, adding that doing business with the government has never been easier.
Last year, he said, they invested $500 million in the country, portions of which will be poured into the Visayas region.
Philtower is a cell tower company that creates infrastructure in the country’s smart cities.
Building in-building systems, small cells, and shared common infrastructure like towers, poles and rooftops allows clients to deliver quick connectivity to the majority of people.
The newly opened Arta Eastern Visayas Field Office is located at the National Food Authority (NFA) compound in Barangay Banilad, Cebu City.
The property is owned by the Cebu Provincial Government and houses the NFA 7, which had agreed to move to the government center in Sudlon, Barangay Lahug, Cebu City after it and several other regional offices of national government agencies that occupied provincial lots along Gov. M. Cuenco Ave. were asked to relocate.