Category: Citizen-centered Services

Title of Productivity and Innovation Initiative:

Moncada eBPLO system

Implementing Agency:

Municipal Government of Moncada, Tarlac

Year Implemented:

2016-present

Theme/s:

Digitization & New Technologies, and Government of the Future

General Description

Pursuant to RA 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Delivery of Government Services (EODB/EDGS) Act, the Municipality’s Electronic Business Permits and Licensing Office (eBPLO) system of the Municipality of Moncada, Tarlac was implemented in 2016. Initially, it only aimed to streamline the process of business permits and license transactions in Moncada through an organized online database for all business records. As of 2021, the system has also integrated an Electronic Queuing System, Mayor’s Assistance System, Revised Automated Travel Pass System, and Human Resources Human Resources Information System (HRIS). It also serves as a database for other records such as real property taxes (RPT) and community tax certificates (CTC).

Background and Problems

Moncada is a first-class municipality in Tarlac, with over 57,000 residents according to the 2015 Census. Residents aged 15 to 64, which belong to the economically active population and actual or potential workforce members, constitute 62.25% of the municipality. In terms of trade and commerce, there are currently over 500 business establishments and 500 public market stalls.

Based on Moncada LGU’s data, before implementing the eBPLO system, the average assessment time of business-related documents would usually take at least two to four hours with manual processing. There are also instances of missing or misplaced physical records, which would result in transactions taking even longer. Municipal records show that before the eBPLO implementation, only about four to five transactions could be accommodated per day.

Solution and Impact

Moncada LGU partnered with ezGov, a company that specializes in the application and system development for various local governments in the country, in automating their eBPLO and records for RPT, engineering, and treasury, creating HRIS system for their resource management and queuing system for customer service, and developing their eMoncada and COVID Management Applications.

With the eBPLO system in place, the performance monitoring data of Moncada showed a significant improvement in the speed of transactions. From an average of two hours pre-implementation, the assessment time that the system recorded as of 2020 reduced to an average of 2.81 minutes. The average daily transactions also increased from only four to five to at least 90. These already notable leaps in productivity become even more impressive given other factors such as the fact that manual transactions often take even longer hours whenever the assessors fail to find the previous records of business owners.

Apart from improving the efficiency of transactions, the eBPLO system also constantly monitors delays and acts on them accordingly through a performance monitoring feature integrated into the queuing system, which records the length of time that the users spend lining up until they have accomplished all the processes. The resulting time saved has freed up the staff to focus on other important municipal tasks.

The shorter and almost hassle-free transactions have encouraged more people to register and start new businesses. Since 2016, 100 percent of business owners in Moncada have been registered in the system and all of the local government’s’s business processes go through it as well. From less than 30 large enterprises, the municipality of Moncada is now home to a total of 190 in 2020.

Milestones

In 2020, the eBPLO system won second place in the Digital Governance Awards (DGA) which was organized by the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), through its ICT Industry Development Bureau (IIDB), in partnership with the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the National ICT Confederation of the Philippines (NICP). The DGA is an annual search for ICT best practices of local government units (LGUs) for more effective and efficient delivery of public services to their constituents and business stakeholders.

The Moncada LGU is currently planning to incorporate an online payment system to further increase the convenience for businesses in the municipality. The LGU also aims to integrate the system in their new eMoncada Application, which aims to serve as an all-in-one platform that features a local business directory and services such as contact tracing and a tracker for the vaccination status of residents.

A person using the eBPLO system

Screenshots of the eBPLO system user interface

References

Sigue, J. B. (2021). Digital Governance Awardees for 2020. Retrieved from https://jocellebatapasigue.com/2021/09/09/digital-governance-awardees-for-2020/

PhilAtlas. (n.d.). Moncada, province of Tarlac. PhilAtlas. Retrieved from https://www.philatlas.com/luzon/r03/tarlac/moncada.html 

Aquino, E. (2020). (rep.). Digital governance awards 2020 business empowerments (G2B) Moncada: Automated BPLO. Moncada, Philippines.

Mayor Rex Gatchalian of Valenzuela City, Philippines, shared the city’s integrated business permit application system with the participants of the online Trainers Training on Government Digital Services conducted by the Asian Productivity Organization (APO) and the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP)  on November 26, 2020.

The Paspas Permit is a 10-second business permit application system that allows the issuance of provisionary business permits within ten seconds after confirmation of payment. Before this project, the issuance of business permits at the City Hall takes about 15 to 30 minutes.

The “Paspas Permit” accelerated Valenzuela’s digital technology adoption and streamlined services for more than 18,000 businesses in the city.

Mayor Rex said that “the platform demonstrates the local government’s commitment to making services more efficient and innovative, which in turn can attract more investors and spur further development. The system also integrates services of the Office of the Building Official, City Assessor’s Office, the Local Civil Registry, and the Treasurer’s Office.

The training attended by 27 participants from 10 APO member countries introduced digital services’ role in increasing the effectiveness and efficiency in meeting public needs and identifying the e-government systems that promote quality governance and innovation.

Mayor Trina Firmalo-Fabic of the Municipality of Odiongan, Romblon, talked about Leadership on Local Government Administration amidst COVID-19 Pandemic during the 2021 APO Course on Development of Public-Sector Productivity Specialists on March 5, 2021.

The local government responded immediately by creating the Municipal Task-Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases and implementing the Guidelines on Handling the COVID-19 pandemic. She also highlighted the establishment of the Municipal Contact Tracing Team and working with the Department of Science and Technology to utilize FASSSTER and COVIDKAYA for more efficient and fact-based contact tracing.

Mayor Firmalo-Fabic highlighted that the LGU provided COVID-19 updates consistently via live stream announcements on Facebook with simultaneous broadcasts on a local radio station and television channel and distributed flyers to make the citizens well-informed and assured that the LGU is working during the pandemic. Other initiatives include customized care packages for vulnerable sectors, a mobile lab for persons with disabilities and the elderly, a mobile library for children, psychological assistance, online consultations and prescriptions, and shuttle services for
front liners.

At the end of the presentation, Mayor Firmalo-Fabic emphasized that “during this pandemic, the local government learned to ensure a timely initial response, to mobilize the departments and the private sector towards a common goal, to treat the community equally and compassionately, to
maintain public trust through transparency and consistency, and to use creative solutions to transform challenges into opportunities.”