DESPITE exhibiting some of the best practices in the Philippines, many of the best cities in the country still cannot be considered globally competitive, according to the International Finance Corp. (IFC).

In its Doing Business in the Philippines Subnational Report, which was launched Monday in Makati City, the IFC said cities considered to have the shortest procedures in registering property, dealing with licenses and starting a business still ranks poorly when compared with other countries around the world.

In a presentation, Zenaida Hernandez-Uriz, investment-policy officer of the Foreign Investment Advisory Service, a multidonor service of the World Bank Group, said that there are many cities in the country that did well in the survey.

In terms of dealing with licenses, Tanauan, Batangas, was the best among the 21 cities included in the survey and when ranked against other economies, it ranked sixth, ahead of New Zealand which is seventh in the world.

As for other cities, Mandaluyong ranked 35th, the same as the United Kingdom; Mandaue ranked 54th; and Makati and Manila ranked 61st among 178 economies in days to register property, cost of registering property, and cost of dealing with licenses.

In starting a business and the cost of starting a business, Taguig and Lapu-Lapu cities were in the top half when compared with  other economies. Taguig ranked 76th in days to start a business, while Lapu-Lapu ranked 79th in terms of the cost of starting a business.

However, in terms of the number of procedures for registering property, all 21 cities included in the survey were performing well, but when ranked against the 178 economies included in the 2008 Doing Business study, these cities only ranked 124th.

Hernandez-Uriz also said that Taguig, which was found to have the shortest number of procedures for dealing with licenses, was only ranked 142nd in that category.

In starting a business, on the other hand, Hernandez-Uriz said Manila, Marikina, and Taguig had the shortest number of procedures but only ranked 168th against other economies.

“The country needs a lot of reforms to bring down the number of procedures, [which will also] reduce corruption,” Hernandez-Uriz said in a presentation.

Some reforms, Hernandez-Uriz noted, even did not require too much legislation and can be done on the local level. While some reforms can be set in place only if government agencies implement major reforms.

According to the study, in terms of the procedures for starting a business, national regulations require 11 more steps on top of what local government units require.

“Don’t deny the information and we should take the report for what it is. We should use the study as a set of challenges. We believe that good governance is good politics and [makes] good business,” said Vincent Lazatin, executive director of Transparency and Accountability Network.

Lazatin said there is a need to cut down unnecessary regulations and minimize redundancy of procedures, increase transparency, and avoid approval of registrations and licenses through silence.

For his part, SGV & Co. chairman and managing partner David Balangue also said there is also a need to amend the Local Government Code, particularly in streamlining procedures for registering property.

Balangue also recommended the use of technology such as a “super computer” for the registration of new businesses, dealing licenses and registering property.

Department of Trade and Industry Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said that as far as technology is concerned, the government is pinning its hopes on the Philippine Business Registry, which is seen to cut starting a business procedures to only thee or four steps.

Maglaya said other reforms that are being set in place is the completion of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the anti-red tape law, which is being pushed to be approved by year-end, as well as the national single window and the clustering of government agencies for ease of procedure.

The IFC report showed that Philippine cities do not rank well against global benchmarks in terms of the number of procedures to start a business or secure construction licenses.

There are wide differences in the number of procedures, time and cost to start a business: it takes 27 days in Taguig and 52 in Manila.

Local requirements are responsible for a significant variance in the number of steps required to obtain construction-related authorizations. It is easiest in Taguig, with 23 procedures, but more cumbersome in Mandaue and Pasig, with 33 procedures.

While it takes eight procedures to register property in all 21 cites, different local practices of the local offices of national agencies are behind a wide variation in time and cost: 21 days in Mandaluyong compared with six weeks in Mandaue.

THE Philippines’ food import bill for 2008 may go up to close to 40 percent due to more expensive rice, wheat and dairy products, according to the latest Food Outlook released by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

DESPITE exhibiting some of the best practices in the Philippines, many of the best cities in the country still cannot be considered globally competitive, according to the International Finance Corp. (IFC).

THE local farm sector’s credit requirement was estimated at P200 billion in 2007, but banks were only able to finance P48 billion, or 24 percent, of this requirement, the Department of Agriculture (DA) said.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) has allocated P500 million for its Organikong Pagsasaka program, a program that seeks to encourage farmers to use organic fertilizers.

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) will organize a new office to take charge of making the country’s dry lands productive, a Philippine participant in the ongoing training course on Dryland Farming Techniques for Developing Countries in Baoding, Hebei province, in China, reported.

THE government, through the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI), will spend some P60 million to conduct a National Nutrition Survey (NNS), according to the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

THE vice chairman of the House Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development believes that the recent enactment into law of the Magna Carta for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) would create thousands of job opportunities and new businesses in the country.