Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Wilfred D. Bidad
Juliet T. Niere
Master in Business Management major in Finance
nierejuliet@gmail.com
Mindanao State University Graduate School,
General Santos City, Philippines
ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of the current Business
Permit and Licensing Regulation practices in General Santos City. The instruments
used to collect data were mainly questionnaires and interviews. Data collected were
analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The findings revealed the following: (1)
most of the respondents were Employees/Staffs, mostly classified as Contractors,
engaged in the Service Industry, located in Barangay Lagao, General Santos City,
Philippines, registered as Single Proprietor, classified as MSME’s based on Total
Assets, and had established their operations for 1 year to 5 years, (2) the standards
implemented by DILG, DTI and DICT and complied with the LGU of General Santos
City were Unified Form, Standard Steps/Procedures, Standard Processing Time and
Signatories, (3) the Business Permit and Licensing Issuance Regulation of Local
Government Unit of General Santos City were efficient in terms of Number of Forms
and Number of Signatories but inefficient in terms of Number of Steps/Procedures and
Length of Processing Time, (4) there were also numerous problems and challenges
encountered by the informants in processing new business permit and renewal of
business permits that need to address by the LGU. (5) Customers were satisfied with
the reforms standards implemented, but dissatisfied on the Cost of Fees & Taxes they
paid and on the Delivery of services provided by Frontliner staff and satisfied with the
Overall quality of the business application/renewal process. Among the major
recommendations mentioned were: (1) to study the processes in obtaining clearances
from national agencies and suggest appropriate streamlining, (2) suggestion for a year-
round registration period for renewal and new application be undertaken, (3) LGUs
should provide transparency on the required fees and business taxes paid by clients,
and (4) LGU’s should disseminate more information about the Citizen’s Charter to
create awareness about the services they provide.
KEYWORDS
INTRODUCTION
OBJECTIVES
To determine the business profile of the businesses who applied for a 1) New
Business Permit and 2) Business Permit Renewal in General Santos City.
To determine the current Business Permit and Licensing reform standards
implemented by the DILG, DTI and DICT.
To determine how efficient the existing Business Permit and Licensing issuance
regulation practices in General Santos City when compared to the standard.
To determine the problems and challenges encountered by the respondents in
dealing with the Business Permit and Licensing regulation practices in General
Santos City.
To determine how satisfied the businessmen in the reform standards
implemented in General Santos City.
METHODOLOGY
This study used both quantitative and qualitative research methods in gathering
information. Two data gathering techniques were used in this study, Survey Method and
Key Informant Interview. The researcher adopted and modified the Business Permits
and Licensing Systems (BPLS) 2017 Client Satisfaction Survey administered by the
National Competitiveness Council. An in-depth interview was also conducted among
Business Owners, Bookkeepers and Employees.
The research study was conducted at General Santos City, Philippines
particularly with the businesses that apply for new business permit or renewed their
business permit in the Business Permit and Licensing Office of Local Government Unit
of General Santos City.
The researcher adopted the sample size determination manual by S. K. Lwanga
et al. The total sample size of the survey is 196 respondents, but only One Hundred
Forty Two (142) responded to the survey. The respondents were selected among the
local entrepreneurs in General Santos City, to answer the survey. The study was
conducted in General Santos City within the period of February-March 2019.
The researcher used the primary and secondary data in conducting the study.
The researcher prepared two ways of collecting the primary data 1) for quantitative
data, the researcher used the survey questionnaire; 2) for qualitative data, the
researcher used key informant interview guide questions. In collecting the secondary
data, the researcher obtained these from records, journals, and the internet.
The survey questionnaire was submitted to the thesis adviser for corrections and
suggestions, and then a panel of experts was consulted to make sure that the
questionnaire is validated. The survey assessed and validated the performance of the
business permit and licensing regulation practices in General Santos City. Survey
method was used to determine the 1) Business Profiles of the Respondents; 2)
Experience of the Participant on the Business Application/Renewal Procedures along
with the Satisfaction Indicators for each item.
The researcher prepared a letter to the City Mayor thru the Division Head of
Business Permits and Licensing Division of Local Government Unit of General Santos
City and asked permission to conduct a survey among 142 businessmen in General
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Santos City. The list of the businesses included as the study populations were gathered
from the records of Business Permits and Licensing Division of General Santos City and
identified per business classification.
Upon the approval to conduct a survey, the researcher administered the adopted
and modified Survey Questionnaire on Business Permit and Licensing Regulation
Practices in General Santos City. Before the conduct of the survey and interview, the
researcher also sought permission from One Hundred Forty Two (142) respondents to
conduct a survey regarding their experiences in the application of new business permit
or renewal of a business permit with the corresponding consent letter and consent form.
The researcher personally distributed the questionnaires to the respondents
store or office address. The researcher oriented the respondents about the mechanics
of the survey. Ample time was given for the respondents to answer the questionnaire.
The questionnaires were retrieved after the participants answered the entire survey
questionnaire.
The data were tabulated through the use of Microsoft Excel and were run in the
SPSS software. Frequency and Percentage Distribution was used to present the
respondents Business Profiles and Experience of the respondents on the Business
Application/Renewal Procedures. Likert Scale was used in summarizing the Satisfaction
Indicators using Weighted Mean Average. The following rating scale was used to
interpret the Satisfaction Indicators of the respondents in the survey questionnaire: 1 -
Highly Dissatisfied; 2 - Dissatisfied; 3 - Satisfied; 4 - Highly Satisfied; 5 - Very Highly
Satisfied. Tabular representations were employed to further discuss the quantitative
data being presented and in order to give clear results and analysis of the data derived
from the survey.
Responses from the open-ended question or Key Informant Interview focusing on
the experiences of the respondents on their business permits processing were
transcribed, translated, coded and grouped into categories and analysed using R
Qualitative Data Analysis (RQDA).
RESULTS
Business Profile of the Respondents
The profile of the businesses included in this study is presented in tabular format.
The profile included the Designation of Respondent, Classification of Business,
Business Type, Barangay where the Office or Store is located, Type of Business
Registration, Size of business (based on Total Assets), and Length of Operation. This
research study employed One Hundred Forty Two respondents throughout General
Santos City which is divided into Seven (7) New Applications and One Hundred Thirty
Five (135) Business Permit Renewal.
*N= 142 (7 for New Applications and 135 for Business Permit Renewal)
It is evident from Table 1 that the Business Profiles of most of the respondents
were: as to Designation, most of the respondents were Employees/Staff, as to
Classification of Business, most of the respondents were Contractor, as to Business
Type, most are engaged in Service Industry, as to Barangay which the office address is
located, most respondents are located in Barangay Lagao, General Santos City,
Philippines, as to Business Registration, most respondents were registered as Single
Proprietor, as to size of Business, most respondents were MSME’s, and as to Length of
Operation, most respondents were operating for 1 year to 5 years.
Six Informants were chosen by the researcher for Key Informant Interview. For
the purpose of collecting relevant information and in-depth assessment of the research
topic, key informant interview was utilized as a research method.
Two application types are involved in the Business Permit and Licensing process,
namely: New Application and Renewal. Based on the conducted key informant interview
with six pertinent clients, the application for Business Permit in Local Government Unit
of General Santos City undergoes the process shown in the flowcharts: Figure 1 for
New Applications and Figure 2 for Renewals).
Figure 1: Flow Chart in Securing Business Permit for New Applicants from the
Business Sector Perspective
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Figure 2: Flow Chart in Securing Business Permit Renewal (during Business One stop
Shop) from the Business Sector Perspective
The Joint Memorandum Circular No. 01 series of 2016 provide guidelines for
implementing the Reformed Standards for Business Process and Licensing System. All
cities and municipalities are enjoined to follow the following standards in processing
Business Permits and Licenses, namely: Unified Form, Standard Steps/Procedures,
Standard Processing Time and Prescribed Number of Signatories. The Cost of Fees
and Taxes was also assessed in this study.
Number of Number of
Total Total
New Renewal New Renewal
Forms Procedures
1 unified form 85.71 69.63 70.42 1 step/procedure 0.00 1.48 1.41
2 or more 2
14.29 30.37 29.58 0.00 4.44 4.23
forms steps/procedures
Length of
3
Time to New Renewal Total 14.29 24.44 23.94
steps/procedures
Process
10 to 30 4
2.22 2.11 71.43 52.59 53.52
minutes steps/procedures
31 to 60
0.74 0.70 Others 14.29 17.04 16.90
minutes
Cost of Fees
1 to 2 hours 3.70 3.52 New Renewal
and Taxes Paid Total
Within the
Less than
day or less 11.11 10.56 2.96 2.82
P500.00
than 2 hours
P501.00 to P1,
1 day 22.22 21.13 5.19 4.93
000.00
P1, 001.00 to
2 to 3 days 28.57 54.07 52.82 14.29 42.22 40.85
P10, 000.00
Above P10,
Others 71.43 5.93 9.15 85.71 46.67 48.59
000.00
Number of N/A (Did not pay
New Renewal 0.74 0.70
Signatories Total fees)
1 signatory 42.86 80.00 78.17 No answer 2.22 2.11
2 signatories 57.14 14.07 16.20
3 to or more 5.93 5.63
As perceived in Table 3, the following were the key findings of the study. Most of
the respondents answered the following: as to Number of Forms, most respondents
filled out One Unified form only, as to Number of Steps/Procedures, most respondents
took Four steps/procedures, as to Length of Processing Time, most respondents
finished after 4 days and above in New Application and 2 to 3 days for renewal
application, as to Number of Signatories, most respondents answered one signatory
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only when asked how many signatories were affixed to their Business Permit and as to
Cost of Fees and Taxes, most respondents paid above P 10,000.00.
Table 4. General Santos City BPLO-Service Standard (ARTA) versus JMC No. 01-2016
BPL Reform Standards versus Survey Result
General Santos
City BPLO- JMC No. 01-
Application
Standards Service 2016 BPL Survey Result
Type
Standard Reform (highest
(ARTA) Standards frequency)
Number of New and
1 1 1
Forms Renewal
Number New and
2 3 4
Procedures Renewal
Documentary New and
4 5
Requirements Renewal
Should not
4 days and
Length of New within 1-2 exceed 1-2
above
Processing working days days
Time Should not
Renewal 2 to 3 days
1 day exceed 1 day
Maximum
Did not set a
New number of is 2 2 signatories
standard
Number of signatories
Signatories Maximum
Did not set a
Renewal number of is 2 1 signatory
standard
signatories
In order to know the satisfaction rating of the respondents, the researchers used
Likert Scale. Corresponding weights were assigned to the answers of respondents.
These weights are: Highly Dissatisfied (Weight: 1), Dissatisfied (Weight: 2), Satisfied
(Weight: 3), Highly Satisfied (Weight: 4), Very Highly Satisfied (Weight: 5). The
researchers then computed for the weighted mean average to have an idea of how
satisfied the applicants with the BPLS reform standard, such as Number of Forms,
Number of process, Speed of process, and the Number of Signatories. The weighted
mean average was also computed to determine the satisfaction ratings on the Cost of
Fees and Taxes, the Delivery of services rendered by the Frontliners and Overall quality
of the business application/renewal process.
Table 5. Customer Satisfaction on the reform standards, Cost of Fees & Taxes, Delivery
of services and Overall quality of the business application/renewal process
Table 5 showed that respondents gave the BPLS reform standard implemented
in General Santos City an average rating of 3.33, 3.06, 3.15, and 3.20 which can be
interpreted as Satisfied. In terms of the cost of Fees and Taxes it is noticeable that the
average rating is quite lower at 2.95 and could be interpreted as Dissatisfied. Also the
average rating for the Delivery of services rendered by the Frontliners is quite lower at
2.96 and could be interpreted as Dissatisfied. In the Overall Quality of the business
application/renewal process this year 2019, the study yielded a somewhat favourable
reaction from the respondents with a total weighted mean average equivalent to 3.34,
which means that the respondents rated the Overall Quality of the business
application/renewal process of General Santos City as Satisfied.
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One of the objectives of this study was focused on the identification of common
problems, challenges and concerns/complaints of the respondents when they process
their business permits. The study aimed to capture the problems and challenges
through the respondent’s answer on the survey and mostly on the informants shared
information in the open ended questions.
Most respondents encountered the following problems and challenges. General
Santos City’s Business Permit and Licensing Office was not transparent in terms of
Computation of Fees & Taxes, the respondents took longer time to finish in the
Assessment/Billing Procedure, most respondents encountered delay because of long
transaction time and long waiting in line or queues in each of the steps/procedures,
Bookkeepers cause discord in the queuing system because of the bulk processing,
Barangay clerk who issued Barangay Clearance were not always present in the
Business one stop shop and most of the informants do not have knowledge on the
LGU’s Citizen’s Charter
CONCLUSIONS
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