QUEZON CITY -- The Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) is targeting to integrate the information system of the Cooperative Development Authority (CDA) in the Central Business Portal (CBP) by the fourth quarter of 2021.
This is in line with the Ease of Doing Business and Anti-Red Tape (EODB-ART) Advisory Council task group’s plan to conduct business process mapping for all permits and licenses involved in the business cycle and integrate it with the CBP.
The CBP is a single digital platform for registering businesses in the country that was established as mandated by Republic Act No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018.
ARTA, together with its partner agencies including the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), launched the CBP in January 2021.
In a meeting on 5 August 2021, ARTA and the CDA agreed to conduct more exploratory meetings on the streamlining of CDA’s registration processes, which may include the removal of the notarization requirement and the adoption of digital signatures.
During the same meeting, the Authority and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) also mulled the integration of the Certificate of Tax Exemption (CTE) process in the CBP.
In this way, the Cooperatives that are registering through the CBP may also be automatically considered to have applied for the CTE with BIR.
Secretary Jeremiah Belgica, ARTA Director General, said this has been one of the ongoing problems of Cooperatives as their National Tax Exemptions are still being subjected to a separate registration process by BIR.
“The registration for CTE with the BIR was included in the CDA law as one of the requirement for Cooperatives. However, through the CBP, the registration with the BIR for the issuance of a CTE may automatically be accomplished in real time simultaneously with the approval of the Articles of Cooperation with the CDA and TIN registration with the BIR,” he said.
The Authority has come in to help the CDA improve and streamline its services following the Joint Congressional Oversight Committee on Cooperatives of the Senate and the House of Representatives on 28 July 2021.
The hearing tackled the Implementing Rules and Regulations of the Republic Act No. 11364 or the CDA Charter; Chapter V, Article 62, Subsection 10 of R.A. 9520 or the New Cooperative Code; and issues and concerns related by the BIR.
Undersecretary Ernesto Perez, ARTA Deputy Director General for Operations, said the EODB-ART task group is targeting to implement the business process mapping before President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s term ends in June 2022.
Belgica said the task group must “determine the universe of processes” that will be integrated in the CBP, starting with the Doing Business indicators in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report.
The ARTA chief said the task group must also “craft the master plan and the road map for the next three to five years” with regard to the CBP.
The EODB-ART Advisory Council approved Belgica’s motion to create the task group during its 14th regular meeting on 28 July 2021.
The creation of the CBP paved the way for the shortened length of days for registering business from 33 days and 13 steps to only three days. ARTA is eyeing to further reduce this period to a single day by June 2022. (ARTA)
