DTI Hails Quezon City Government for Major Streamlining Efforts; full electronic registration process using  MOBILE APPS pushed

 

The Department of Trade and Industry lauds the efforts and strong commitment of the Quezon City Government in streamlining its operations to speed up the processing of business registration and construction-related permits.

DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez, Chair of the government’s Inter-agency Task Force on Ease of Doing Business, explained that the drastic process re-engineering in Quezon City, the LGU with the most number of businesses, is critical because it is the sample city included in the Doing Business Survey, conducted yearly by the World Bank, to gauge the overall competitiveness of the Philippines as a nation, using the cost and ease of doing business as a criterion.

QC Mayor Herbert Bautista issued Executive Order 11 on December 22, 2017 mandating the creation of One-stop Shops, where new businesses can file and pay their application for business permits, including Fire Safety Inspection Certificates, following a 2-step procedure where applicants can get their permit in less than two hours.  Applicants need not to go to different offices to obtain business permit and other clearances and but instead transact in a single location.

“The EO signed by the Local Chief Executive provides for reduction in the steps and requirements, and the use of automation.  But we need to leapfrog. The effort of the QC shall be complemented by efforts in the national level.  Together with the DICT, we are looking at developing a fully electronic registration process using Smartphone App. This is an excellent opportunity for the Philippines to become one of the first countries to adopt a business registration process that can be completed (end to end) on a smart phone”, Lopez said.

Similar with business permits, a one-stop shop dedicated for construction-related permits is also being established, which will co-locate the different city/municipal offices that process building permits and certificates of occupancy, headed by the Office of the Building Official,  and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) in one place. This is expected to be operational by end of February 2018.

These reforms are seen to significantly improve Philippines’ ranking in Doing Business (DB) Report, where the country dropped 14 notches to No. 113 last year. For Starting a Business indicator, Philippines recorded a dismal No. 173. Quezon City, with an estimated 74,000 registered establishments, represents the country in the survey.

Globe to DICT, BCDA: International cable system capacity more than 16 Tbps

Globe Telecom’s international connectivity capacity provides the leading telecommunications provider with the ability to activate more than 16 Terabits per second (Tbps), sufficient to service the bandwidth demand in the country and satisfy the market’s hunger for faster internet services.  Globe seeks  to correct the separate public pronouncements made by the DICT Undersecretary Eliseo Rio and BCDA President Vince Dizon who placed the industry’s combined capacity at 2 Tbps.

While Globe has enough capacity to provide world class internet service, right-of-way access and unreasonable permit issues hamper the connectivity of many Filipinos.

“Our biggest hurdle in delivering consistently good internet (service) is the cumbersome number of permits and right of way issues that prevent us from building the last mile connectivity that would allow world class internet services to be enjoyed by the ordinary household or any person using a mobile phone.   We have repeatedly called on the government to help address these issues that are prevalent at the local government level.   Now with more people adopting to internet use much faster than the infrastructure can be built, then the problem gets exacerbated,” said Globe President & CEO Ernest Cu.

Out of the Globe Telecom’s current bandwidth capacity of more than 16 Tbps, the company’s “lit-up” capacity is less than 3 Tbps as the rest of the bandwidth remain unused owing to insufficient last mile infrastructure.  Aside from permitting and right of way issues, other last mile concerns are the non-standardized tower fees across LGUs and real property tax challenges, explained Cu.

 

For years now, Globe has been struggling with permitting challenges at the local government levels. To build one cell site alone, the telco has to secure 25 permits from local government units. Processing the permits, meanwhile, takes at least eight months to complete.  Laying down the fiber optic cable to reach homes is another tedious process altogether.

 

Constructing more cell sites is necessary for the Philippines to match and even surpass its Asian neighbors in cell site density, emphasized Cu.  “We keep comparing ourselves with developed countries and our highly developed Asian neighbors on internet speed.  What we don’t realize is that we are facing problems unique to the Philippines,” added Cu.

 

User-per-cell site density in the Philippines is 2,244, based on estimates of 21,000 total cell sites in the country against internet users of around 47.1 million.   This statistic only underscores the urgency to build the necessary infrastructure that the country needs.

With the country growing in step with the rest of Asia, a digital economy will require more bandwidth and better internet services.  It is imperative to look at the issues squarely with both government and industry working together to deliver a better internet experience.

Globe in recent years invested heavily in expanding its international cable connectivity, to stay ahead of the demand curve in terms of bandwidth capacity. This is in recognition of the growing demand for much-improved internet services in the country to fuel the engines of the booming economy.

Just last August, Globe launched the Southeast Asia-United States (SEA-US) cable system that has a design capacity of 20 Tbps capacity and directly links Asia to the US. The system boosts the speed of data transmission and improves the efficiency of connectivity, among other benefits to the public.

Meet the mentors and judges for Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism!

Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism hopes to be one of the many initiatives by local volunteers and the Bohol ICT Council.

It is a 54-hour event where participants get to enjoy and experience how to build a business or a project in just three days.

The organizers have held a couple of pre-activities before the big Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism event this coming September 29 to help introduce the idea and get them to experience a little bit of what the activity is all about – creating innovations and working on them.

Mentors and a couple of participants underwent a fire pitching game where they got to create ideas out of some random words. They got subjected to a barrage of questions to test if their ideas could stand on its own.

The event is in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Provincial Government of Bohol, and the Bohol Investment Promotion Center. It is sponsored by Uniform Solutions, PrintBit, Gwion, Sea Drake Island Cruises, and Just Sizzlin’ (we are still open for sponsorships!). The participants at the event will also be mentored by Michael de Vincent Edwards, Jerome Auza, Aimee Lim, Nelson Buena and Gina Kapirig. With them are judges Mark Phillips, Vicky Wallace, and many more startup ecosystem supporters.

Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism Edition will be on September 29-October 1, 2017 at the Bohol Bee Farm Panglao. If you’d like to register and stay updated, text Zion at 09084213938 or e-mail us at bohol@startupweekend.org and find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StartupWeekendBohol/

Registration for Startup Weekend Bohol includes Food, Shirts, and more!

Startup Weekend is an environment that aims to provide all the necessities the participant needs so that he or she can focus purely on developing his or her idea. Registering to Startup Weekend Tourism Edition entitles a participant to three days of meals, an event shirt, a goodie bag, and the event experience; and the registration fee is just seven hundred fifty pesos (PHP750.00) per participant! Ain’t that a good deal? We also understand that there are students that would like to participate so we’ve set up a student discount of just five hundred pesos (PHP500.00), just please bring your student IDs when you make your purchase.
The reason why the organizers have pulled in so much resources to pull this off at an affordable rate is so that local entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs that would like to join the event and try their hand at testing their new business idea can rest assured that everything will be provided for them as they prioritize developing their business idea.
The event is in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Provincial Government of Bohol, and the Bohol Investment Promotion Center. It is sponsored by Uniform Solutions, PrintBit, Gwion, Sea Drake Island Cruises, and Just Sizzlin’ (we are still open for sponsorships!) . The participants at the event will also be mentored by Michael de Vincent Edwards, Aimee Lim, Nelson Buena, Ben Skelton, and Peter Watkins. With them are judges Mark Phillips, Vicky Wallace, and many more startup ecosystem supporters.
Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism Edition will be in September 29-October 1, 2017 at the Bohol Bee Farm Panglao. If you’d like to register and stay updated, text Zion at 09084213938 or e-mail us at bohol@startupweekend.organd find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StartupWeekendBohol/

Everyone is welcome at Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism Edition

We often get questions about who exactly can join Startup Weekend Bohol but the answer is always the same: everyone! May you be a designer who likes to create logos and graphic designs, or a developer who likes coding for web applications or mobile apps, or a business owner hoping to test out his/her newest business venture in a controlled environment, everyone has a place in Startup Weekend.

Many of the previous participants also had marketing, real estate, academe, and government backgrounds; we even got some engineers and high school students! As long as you are somebody who’d like to learn how a company is created and how a product is developed over a weekend, you’re the right person for Startup Weekend.

Since this year’s theme is “tourism”, we are also especially inviting people who are in the tourism sector: Tour guides, travel agents, ticket vendors, even tour bus drivers! The objective of the event is to come together and create something that’ll improve or assist both the local and international tourism industry, may it be a business or a new community, and we certainly can’t do it alone if we don’t have insight from the actual people on the field.

Feel like you have nothing to contribute? Most of the time, it’s all in your head! We’ve had participants come in feeling shy about what they can give to their teams but in reality, they end up being the most valuable resource the team can have. It is your experience, your perspective and insights, that make you an essential part of the team. So step up and stand up and get ready to give it your all for a weekend that’ll change your life! Come to Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism Edition!

The event is in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Provincial Government of Bohol, and the Bohol Investment Promotion Center. It is sponsored by Uniform Solutions, PrintBit, Gwion, and Sea Drake Island Cruises (we are still open for sponsorships!) . The participants at the event will also be mentored by Michael de Vincent Edwards, Aimee Lim, Tina Amper, Ben Skelton, and Peter Watkins. With them are judges Mark Phillips, Vicky Wallace, and many more startup ecosystem supporters.

Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism Edition will be in September 29-October 1, 2017 at the Bohol Bee Farm Panglao. If you’d like to register and stay updated, text Zion at 09084213938 or e-mail us at bohol@startupweekend.org and find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StartupWeekendBohol/

Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism Edition Aims To Encourage Innovation In The Tourism Sector

Startup Weekend is an entrepreneurship learning program that gives participants real-world hands-on experience in creating and validating their business ideas. This year, Startup Weekend Bohol aims to connect with talents that have new innovations for the tourism sector.

Any idea from a new kind of souvenir item, to an app that lists the area’s available tourist spots and services (like TarShare), or even a new kind of transport system that will make it easier and cheaper for both locals and tourists to go to beaches, all ideas are welcome!

We purposefully selected a group of mentors that specialize in the various sectors in the tourism industry like food, transport, government, and recreation so they can assist teams that have questions on the application of their new product. The goal is to help guide each team on how they can create a sustainable business model for their idea so they can last many years and serve the tourism sector well.

We are also encouraging ideas that aren’t limited to applications in Bohol but to the whole world! Some of the ideas that have reached the global stage are Airbnb, Tripadvisor, Trivago, and those many apps and services you and your family use for travel or recommendations.

Have an awesome idea? Or are you someone who just wants to work on an awesome idea? Join Startup Weekend Bohol Tourism Edition!

The event is in partnership with the Department of Tourism, Provincial Government of Bohol, and the Bohol Investment Promotion Center. It is sponsored by PrintBit, Gwion, Uniform Solutions, and Sea Drake Island Cruises (we are still open for sponsorships!) . The participants at the event will also be mentored by Michael de Vincent Edwards, Aimee Lim, Tina Amper, Ben Skelton, and Peter Watkins. With them are judges Mark Phillips, Vicky Wallace, and many more startup ecosystem supporters.

Startup Weekend Bohol will be in September 29-October 1, 2017 at the Bohol Bee Farm Panglao. If you’d like to register and stay updated, text Zion at 09084213938 or e-mail us atbohol@startupweekend.org and find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/StartupWeekendBohol/