LA CARLOTA CITY – The Department of Trade and Industry-Negros Island Region (DTI-NIR) is currently working on cutting the business name registration processing time from the usual 15 minutes to only four minutes through the Negosyo Centers.
DTI-NIR Director Asteria Caberte, who led the launching of the Negosyo Center in this city yesterday, said that like the Negosyo Centers in Region, particularly Cebu, they target to also implement starting this year the four-minute processing time in NIR.
Caberte, who concurrently heads DTI-Region 7, said they are now working on improving the connectivity and infrastructure among Negosyo Centers established in Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental to also improve their services.
In terms of manpower, the agency will provide Negosyo counselors to each of the center, who will give advisory services to micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in their respective areas.
“Aside from business consultancy sessions and trainings for MSMEs, Negosyo Centers will also serve as platform in providing fast business name registration processing to local enterprises,” Caberte said.
The initiative is on top of the memorandum-circular issued by DTI with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), mandating the two-day processing of new business permit applications and one day for renewals, she added.
Meanwhile, the Negosyo Center located within the City Hall here is the sixth in the province since 2015, next to those at the Provincial Capitol Complex in Bacolod City, and the cities of Kabankalan, Sagay, San Carlos, and Victorias. Two more Negosyo Centers will be opened later this year – one in Bacolod City and another in Hinigaran town.
Like other host-cities, La Carlota provided the area and some of the facilities while DTI took charge of the refurbishment, basic equipment, and training component.
The establishment of Negosyo Center, which is provided under Republic Act No. 10644, or the Go Negosyo Act, aims at providing enterprises the ease of doing business, and facilitates access to grants and other forms of financial assistance and other services.
For his part, Mayor Luis Jalandoni III expressed hopes that the Negosyo Center will improve the business environment in their city.
“It is surely a big help to our enterprises as major services in doing business, like issuance of business name registration, can now be availed through our Negosyo Center here,” Jalandoni added.
