The first day of the Business One Stop Shop (BOSS) officially commenced Thursday, January 2, at Centro Latino to facilitate a fast and convenient renewal and registration of local businesses.

More than 300 applications were processed on the first day of BOSS operations.

A steady stream of business owners flocked to Centro Latino to utilize the streamlined system of the BOSS, which puts all government agencies involved in the renewal and registration of all kinds of business permits and licenses in one venue, and process applications in 2 steps: apply and pay and release of business permit for new registration and verify and pay and release of business permit for renewal.

Applications for registration and renewal are expected to rise throughout the registration period which is set from January 2 to January 20. Operating hours of the BOSS will be from 8 am to 8 pm, Mondays to Fridays, and from 8 am to 5 pm for weekends and holidays.

Earlier, Business Permits and Licensing Officer (BPLO) Benjie Barredo said the BOSS 2020 will use the same scheme and features as in 2019 with minor changes.

New registration requirements include certificate of registration from any of the following: DTI for single proprietorship, SEC for corporations and CDA for cooperatives; business capitalization; occupancy permit (for new/renovated buildings) and contract lease (if lessee/ rentee); barangay clearance for business purposes and one 2×2 photo of the permittee/ owner/ manager.

However, for renewal of business permits, the requirement would only include any of the following: income tax returns (ITR), financial statement, VAT or percentage return and previous assessments of the City Treasurer.

Barangay clearance for business purposes will no longer be required as it will be integrated into the system based on Republic Act 11032, section 11(f) which states that “barangay clearances and permit related to doing business shall be applied, issued and collected at the city/ municipality in accordance with the processing time of the said Act. Provided that the share in the collections shall be remitted to the respective barangays.”

The BOSS 2020 will also include registration of homebased businesses or those with no occupancy permits with the following requirements- legal right over the property such as photocopy of land title or regular requirement plus other documentary requirements and authorization from owner with photocopy of owner’s land title and ID.

Information and help desks are in place at the BOSS 2020. There will be 4 transaction lanes available – for single (2 lanes), group/ bulk transaction/ senior citizen/ bookkeepers) and the special lane for senior citizens and persons with special needs.

There will also be a deficiency/ negative list where the BPLO will inform businesses under the negative list before the implementation of the one stop shop.  (Jasmine Mohammadsali)