Role of City Government in Improving Ease of Doing Business

DTI LGU Business Forum

October 17, 2016 | Makati Shangri-La Hotel
Mr. Joseph Garcia, Chief- LGU-CSFP Business Licensing and Permits
Division
President Pampanga Association of BPLOs
President Central Luzon Association of BPLOs
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, City Chamber Officials and officers, my LGU
counterparts, guests and participants, good day. This afternoon, I am
honored to speak to you about the City of San Fernando experience, as a
key player in Improving Ease of Doing Business.
Being in the forefront of improving Business Process and Licensing
Systems as the BPLO Chief, one may think that the role of the City
Government is limited to regulation and the registration of businesses. Our
experience in the City Of San Fernando proves otherwise in that to be a
preferred location for businesses, we must explore other aspects of doing
business in the City and not just be limited to our regulatory practices. In
the City of San Fernando, we go beyond by taking in the role of investment
promotion, public-private sector partnership, MSME development, and
improving our organization in terms of institutionalizing Quality
Management Systems, Collaboration in our planning processes to
ultimately provide an above average customer service to our clients.
Our local Investments Promotion Office works full time with all types of
businesses by assisting them in their investment needs in terms of
identifying supplies for production, manpower and processing of permits.
The conduct of trade fairs and missions also provide avenues of outward
information dissemination regarding the local industries present in the City.
The easy access to LGU information related to operations of different
businesses is an attractive quality by the LGU, aiding in investment
decisions favorable to the City.

The City conducts capability training both for its personnel and
stakeholders to facilitate knowledge and technical needs in terms of doing
business. MSMEs are undergoing various capability enhancing trainings
and workshops while internally in the LGU, all offices involved in the core
business processes are ISO practitioners. Skills and knowledge
enhancement activities internal and external to the LGU further streamlines
the process of doing business in the City of San Fernando.
In addition to that, in 2015, we have put into action the Public-Private
Partnership Code of the City of San Fernando. As an LGU, we believe that
true progress is not solely the work of the government institution but, like at
the macro level, the private sector has a huge role to fill in establishing an
enabling environment for businesses. The PPP Code will be our guide in
engaging the private sector in the realization of high impact projects
especially in the field of economic development. Collaboration, not only
with the private sector, but also with neighboring municipalities and Cities
and Civil Society Organizations is a long running practice in the City of San
Fernando.
All these are in place, continued and strengthened to ultimately provide
quality customer service in the LGU in terms of ease of doing business.
And, as an attestation to that, our LGU is now a two time Hall of Fame
Awardee as the Most Business Friendly LGU conferred by the Philippine
Chamber of Commerce and Industries (PCCI) 2009 to 2011 and 2014 to
2016. Still, we keep reminding ourselves that despite the awards and
recognitions, we have to keep improving and working towards the
continuous improvement of our processes and services because
challenges and trends, especially in the field of doing business, are ever
changing and they need to be addressed to stay a competitive LGU.
That summarizes what our LGU has done in the past and what we intend to
do in the future. Now, let me show you an Audio Visual Presentation (AVP)
of all that has been presented which helped us attain our second Hall of
Fame Status as the Most Business Friendly LGU in 2016.