The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) supports the government in its effort to simplify the process of applying for business registration in the country.

With the collaboration of different agencies namely, Department of Finance, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Internal and Local Government, Securities and Exchange Commission, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, PhilHealth, Home Development Mutual Fund, LandBank of the Philippines, Development Bank of the Philippines, National Competitiveness Council Philippines and the Quezon City government., the business registration process at the SEC for new corporations, partnerships and non-stock corporations were streamlined to six (6) steps and eight (8) days, down from the previous 16 steps and 34 days starting April 15, 2015.

Online transactions for payroll-related payments to PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG shall also be in place to reduce the number of payments from 36 to 13 annually.

These said reforms are expected to boost the country’s rankings in the global competitiveness reports that will similarly impact heavily on the development of the capacity of the local micro, small-and medium-sized enterprises.

“Streamlining the process of business registration shows government’s effort to bring quality service to the people. On PhilHealth’s part, we are strongly encouraging employers to pay their premium contributions at any accredited collecting agent through online facilities. Even the reporting system for the formal economy will be done electronically. With this move, we are making PhilHealth transactions easier for them,” said Padilla. (END)