THE City Treasurer's Office of Cagayan de Oro City notes some 35 to 40 percent of business operators in the city have renewed their business permits as of Thursday, January 18.
City Treasurer Ramon Antonio Mendoza said out of 24,000 businesses in the city, an estimated 9,000 were able to renew their business permits.
"We expect na about 80 percent na ang ma-renew (We expect that about 80 percent of the total businesses in the city will have their business permits renewed) within the deadline," Mendoza added.
The deadline for the renewal of business permits is Saturday, January 20.
However, the City Treasurer's Office released a public advisory announcing that the Business One-Stop Shop in the City Hall will be open on Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. "to accommodate the filing of business permit applications."
Mendoza also mentioned that they requested for an extension of deadline to January 31 after they have found out that there are still a large number of businessmen who failed to renew their permits.
He added that if the request fails to be approved, those who renewed their permits on Sunday, January 21, are assured that they will consider their application and they will not suffer the imposed penalties.
"I would like to urge the business operators na hindi pa nakapag file ng renewal, pumunta sila sa office namin bukas or sa Sunday para ma process na natin ang (who weren't able to apply for renewal of permit, visit our office tomorow or on Sunday so that we can process their) renewal and avoid the corresponding penalties," Mendoza said.
Penalties of those who failed to renew their permits before or on January 20 will be a 25 percent surcharge on the total amount and a 2 percent monthly interest.
Aside from visiting the Business One-Stop Shop in the City Hall, business operators can also apply for renew through online by logging in to cagayandeoro.gov.ph.