Online business, citizen registries ready by end ’16

Online business and citizen registry systems will be operational before the end of the year as part of President Duterte’s promise to cut red tape and further ease doing business in the country, the Department of Finance said Wednesday.

In a statement, the DOF said it had partnered with the newly formed Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) to put up automated registries that would allow government agencies to share data and other pertinent information needed when applying for permits and licenses.

“We are building these systems because we want to unburden our citizens from submitting documentary requirements that we in the government already have in our records. We want to align what we are doing with what President Duterte wants, which is to make one submission of documents to be good for all agencies,” said Finance Undersecretary and DOF anti red tape czar Gil S. Beltran.

The business and citizen registries will be “a lasting solution to the perennial problem of red tape in all government offices,” Beltran said.

According to the DOF, the business registry will serve as the database of all operating businesses, non-government organizations and cooperatives in the country. The citizen registry, meanwhile, will be the government’s comprehensive record of all Filipinos’ basic personal information.

“These systems will allow individuals and corporate entities to easily track and validate their records, removing from them the burden of proving legitimacy,” Beltran said.

The DOF official added that these registries are currently being designed and developed by young Filipino information technology experts, whereas the government had to tap foreign IT consultants in the past. “They are not just 100-percent Filipinos; it is the young and innovative youth of the Philippines that are doing this.”