THE Davao City Business Bureau expected 41,296 businesses in Davao City to renew their permits.
Business Bureau chief Marissa Torrentera said the figure is the total number of businesses registered in the city as of December 31, 2019.
“We are hoping nga dili layo sa ani nga figure ang mag renew kay di man gud nato madiscount ang fact nga ang uban, naa gyud magretire (We are hoping that number of renewed business permits this year will not be far from that figure because there will be businesses which will retire),” Torrentera said.
January 2 is the start of business permit renewal. The renewal will end on January 31. The processing of the business permits is done at the Business Bureau Office inside the Sangguniang Panlungsod and at the Almendras Gym.
“Naa na man tay nagaprocess. In fact, naa na tay na issue nga business permit nga 2020. Taga Marilog ang nagprocess. Naissue na nato sa ilaha. Naa pa pud toy for releasing na pud (There are those who have already processing. In fact, we have issued a permit for 2020 to a business in Marilog and there are those who are about to be released),” she said in an interview with SunStar Davao, Thursday morning.
She added she was not yet able to determine how many of the businesses issued with permits are new businesses.
Maintenance services firm owner Josephine Bautista, who is queuing to renew her business permit on the first day of renewal, said she hoped that the process will be as fast as it was last year.
She said she was able to finish her renewal in one day in 2019.
“Makaya ra isang araw. Depende kay ako isa lang man ako. Dili man ka kutihon nila kay single proprietorship so madali lang (It can be finished in one day. It depends. In my case, it was fast because I am the only owner of my business so the officers will no longer ask too many questions),” Bautista said.
Other businesses, she said, would just assign people to process the permits for about 10 businesses sometimes.
Torrentera said the Davao City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) has given service-oriented businesses who are required to conduct random drug tests of their employees to comply them within the first quarter of 2020 through an Affidavit of Undertaking.
Drug-tests are required for businesses in the service industry such as fast-food.
As of December 31, 2019, Ronaldo Rivera, director of Cadac’s Tabangan Atong Reformist Aron Naa’y Asenso (Tara Na!) revealed there are still about 900 business establishments who have not complied with the drug-test and the drug-free workplace seminar.
Rivera said of the 2,798 service-oriented firms listed in the Business Bureau, 1,872 companies have completed the requirements of Cadac. (With reports from Juliet Revita)