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Rep. Casiño scores higher fees for business registration


By raising fees for registering a business name, the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has placed micro and small entrepreneurs at a disadvantage, a part-ylist representative said Wednesday. Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño urged the DTI to shelve the new rates and streamline its rules on business registration that gives priority to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) without having to raise fees. In its Dec. 15, 2010 Administrative Order (DAO) 10-10, the department increased the fees for registering a new business name and for renewing an old registration based on the geographical unit of government where the transaction is taking place. The DTI’s new rate matrix reflects the following fees:

  • Barangay....................P200
  • City / Municipality.........P500
  • Regional...................P1,000
  • National....................P2,000
Casiño, chairman of the House committee on small business and entrepreneurship development, said the registration fee used to be a flat rate of P300. “I do not understand the DTI’s hike in fees. If this is DTI’s way of making life easier for the country’s MSMEs, it is not logical," Casiño said in a statement. The community of small businesses wants government to help hasten the registration process and facilitate access to credit lines, according to the representative. “This appears to be simply another revenue generation measure of the department at the expense of the MSMEs," the lawmaker said. Raising fees more than 600 percent sends the wrong signal to small entrepreneurs and serves as a disincentive for many to register a business, he explained. "It's difficult as it is to start a business. Why penalize those who are just registering a business name? Ni wala pang kinikita, bugbog na sa babayaran," Casiño said. — VS, GMANews.TV
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