The Bacolod City government boosted local building fee collection through the use of the Integrated Business Permits and Licensing System (IBPLS), a software developed by the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

The IBPLS allows for the electronic processing of applications for building permits and certificates of occupancy issued by the Office of the Building Official (OBO).

As of yesterday, figures showed the OBO collected P55.76 million from permit applications for the period covering July 2022 to June 2023, from just P48.27 million between July 2021 and June 2022.

Mayor Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said the OBO is one of the first to adopt the IBPLS, which makes it easier to apply for the issuance of a building permit and a certificate of occupancy.

“That is perhaps why the collection of OBO also increased,” he said.

Benitez said the latest figures also indicate that the city government exceeded the pre-pandemic collection of only P42.27 million from July 2019 to June 2020.

“In other words, we’re in good shape,” he said.

As part of ensuring ease of doing business, Benitez said the city government has recently opened the permanent Bacolod Express Service Office (BESO) on the third floor of a mall in the Reclamation Area.

“We are also bringing our services closer to business owners. We launched the permanent Bacolod Express Service Office. The setting up of another BESO is ongoing. We ensure ease of doing business to attract more investors to Bacolod City,” he said. (PNA)