By Albert F. Arcilla, Correspondent
ZAMBOANGA CITY has recorded a significant drop in business permit renewals and new business registrations since January this year following stricter policies on zoning and license releasing.
Data from the city administrator’s office show that from January to date, new business permits released were 309, down 60% from 778 in the same period last year.
Permit renewals, meanwhile, stood at 6,231 against 9,543 during the period in review.
City Administrator Marie Angelique C. Go said in an interview these decreases are mainly due to the stricter implementation of the zoning ordinance and the related documents required from businesses.
“Most are pending with the planning office due to setback and ownership issues, lease contract that were not submitted, and some did not go back for follow-ups,” Ms. Go said.
She also said that the cancellation of the issuance of temporary business permits caused the drop.
In 2017, the city government allowed 2,467 businesses, which lack some of the requirements, to operate with temporary licenses.
Ms. Go said they stopped implementing that policy this year, leaving 5,484 pending business permits.
The administrator admitted that the local government is worried that this would affect the city’s ranking in the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) index.
“We are worried about that low figure as it will affect our competitiveness ranking,” Ms. Go said.
In 2017, Zamboanga was 16th in the NCC list among 33 highly urbanized cities and 28th among all 145 cities.
The Zamboanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry Foundation Inc. (ZCCFI), meanwhile, is more confident that the issues relating to the pending permits would be resolved.
“The low turnout of the issued business permit is primarily because of the no temporary permits allowed,” ZCCFI Executive Director Ronnie A. Natividad told BusinessWorld via text message.
“Meaning, they have not processed the licensing step by step or skipped in one of them,” he added.
Mr. Natividad also confirmed Ms. Go’s assessment that most of the affected establishments need to renew their lease contracts or submit an affidavit of occupancy.
“This is expected to be resolved or permits are to be released by the end of June except those tagged with red flags that would really require to comply with mandated requirements without any deviation,” he said.

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