Public hearing on proposed BMBE law amendments set

Thursday, February 9, 2012

CLOSE to 150 participants from the House of Representatives, local government units (LGUs), National Government agencies (NGAs), academe, local business sector, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) throughout the region will gather at the Grand Men Seng Hotel on February 10, to tackle the proposed amendments to Republic Act 9178, or the Barangay Micro Business Enterprises (BMBE) Act of 2002.

Headed by the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development (SBED), the public hearing seeks to gather all comments and recommendations on the said amendatory bill.

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SBED committee chair Representative Teddy Casino said the inputs of the stakeholders "will be very valuable in helping the committee come up with a meaningful legislation that will address the concerns of our entrepreneurs especially the micro sector."

Representative Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, author of House Bill 1113, said while Republic Act (RA) 9178 has very commendable objectives of encouraging the start-up of barangay micro business enterprises and for those in the underground economy to formalize and integrate their businesses to the mainstream economy, many of them still opt to remain informal due to fear of countless bureaucratic requirements.

Per records gathered, Romualdez said, the BMBE Law yielded only 6,598 registered BMBEs, 0.9 percent of the 720,000 potential registrants, after four years of implementation.

House Bill 1708 of Representative Toms V. Apacible and House Bill 1816 of Representative Emmeline Y. Aglipay also propose some amendments to the law.

Casino and the authors of the said House bills, Davao City Mayor Sara Z. Duterte, Davao City Representatives Karlo B. Nograles, Mylene Garcia-Albano, and Isidro T. Ungab, Davao del Norte Representatives Anthony G. del Rosario and Antonio Lagdameo Jr., Davao del Sur Representatives Marc Douglas C. Cagas IV and Franklin P. Bautista, and Davao Oriental Representatives Nelson L. Dayanghirang and Thelma Z. Almario are expected to participate in the public hearing. (PR)