A city councilor is pushing for a uniform fee of barangay clearances for business registration and renewal of business permits.
“This aims to ensure honesty and integrity in public service, efficiency in the collection of fees and for the city to generate income,” Councilor Ralph Abella said in his privilege speech during the session on Tuesday at the Sangguniang Panlungsod.
Abella, a former barangay captain of Vicente Hizon in Buhangin District, said his proposal will adopt Paragraph F, Section 11 of Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018. In the said act, it is cited that “barangay clearances and permits related to doing business shall be applied, issued and collected in the city/municipality in accordance with the prescribed processing time of this act, provided that the share in the collection shall be remitted to the respective barangays.”
He said his proposed ordinance will exclude those barangays with already existing tax ordinance providing their own rate.
“Conversely, some barangays may think that they are being deprived of their liberty to issue clearances and impose rates. But that was not the intention of the Business Bureau,” he said.
“This ordinance will provide a uniform guide for those barangays with no tax ordinance and would encourage barangays with no tax ordinance to pass its own measures,” he said, citing that some barangays do not have tax ordinances.
Once implemented, the following rates shall be the applicable fees for the issuance of barangay clearance based on the capitalization or gross annual income (GAI): P50 will be charged for below P300,000; P100 for those with above P300,000 to P500,000; P200 for above P500,000 to P1 million; and P300 for P1 million and above.
