Business establishments in Boracay Island have until August 15 to comply with the requirements through the one-stop shop so they could operate again in time for the island’s reopening on October 26.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu on Thursday said the one-stop-shop, located at the second floor of City Mall, is continuously assisting owners of businesses so they will become compliant with existing laws and regulations.
As part of the government’s assistance to establishments in observing “no compliance, no operation” policy upon the island’s reopening, the one-stop shop houses the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), and Department of Tourism (DOT).
“They have to go there (one-stop shop) to update their papers. As of now, their ECCs (environmental compliance certificate) are suspended and the only way for them to restore or lift it is to update (their papers),” he said.
“We will distinguish those who are compliant, those who have violations before but they were able to correct them and those who still have violations but were not yet corrected,” Cimatu added.
Those who will fail to process their papers at the one-stop shop will have to process their papers in the offices of concerned agencies, Cimatu said.
The establishment of a one-stop shop was among the results of the third Boracay Inter-Agency Task Force meeting last July 28.
Cimatu on Wednesday visited the one-stop shop, which opened last July 30.
“It was very orderly,” he said.
In a meeting of various stakeholders on the island last July 25, which was led by the DOT in Western Visayas, the department presented the requirements for the compliance and accreditation.
Businesses need to secure LGU requirements which include, among others, mayor’s permit, barangay clearance, Bureau of Internal Revenue annual registration, clearance certificate from the Social Security System, occupancy permit, garbage fee, sanitary permit, real property tax clearance (if applicable), and building permit.
Businesses also have to secure environmental compliance certificates (ECCs), certificate of non-coverage (CNC), discharge permit, and permit to operate for them to be environmental compliant.
When business establishments are already fully-compliant with these requirements, they could already seek accreditation from the DOT. (PNA)
