5 reasons why it's hard to do business in the Philippines

Nothing in here is copied or duplicated. These are all from my thoughts and experiences in doing business in the Philippines. I just feel bad about the system here. As impossible as it seems, we really need someone to help us solve this unsolvable problem...

5 reasons why it's hard to do business in the Philippines

#5 reason - No system

I am sure that you have lined up in a government institution at least once while applying or requesting for something. It's like hell, right? You take a day-off from your school or work and line up whole day just to get your license or NBI clearance or anything. You are lucky if you can finish it up in one day.

*Land transportation office (LTO) improved already. I can renew my license in around 3 hours -Yehey!*

If you want to get ahead of the others, there is a solution...

#4 reason - Connections

This is rampant here. If we aren't talking about political dynasties (like what we really have now), we are talking about a whole family working in one branch of the government. For example, a friend of mine has a dad working in one. Her daughter is his secretary while his son is somewhere in the accounting department. Their mom works as a subcontractor for that government agency.

Also, if you know someone from the government agency like, the Department of Foreign Affairs, you would get your newly applied passport in a day. I also know one foreigner who got his working permit in just 2 days.

Connections work like magic. But you know what? There is one more thing that works faster. It's like putting grease on the wheels to turn faster.

#3 reason - Bribery

To tell you the truth, most business owners KNOW this. They just keep quiet and continue doing their business while these officials leech their funds. Bribery, as sad as I had to admit, is a local custom. From traffic enforcers accepting bribes from traffic violators to the engineering office, accepting dirty money from building owners who failed to pass.

Bureau of Immigration high-ranking employees (I don't know now, but I've heard stories before.) get houses, cars and other fancy properties in exchange for, of course, their imports to be released.

I can source out one of the sources of bribery and this is because of all the requirements the government is asking, and we call it...

#4 reason - Red tape

To tell you the truth, if you don't bribe, it will take you eons of wasted time just to get your legal business up and running.

I would like to focus my topic here. I have plenty of friends, in which I've heard similar to outrageous horror stories in doing business in the Philippines. I am not scaring you, FYI. You just need connections here to get your business running smoothly.

I can say that DTI already improved. There is not much problem in the DTI (It just takes time, but not that long too.) The nightmare starts when the Local Government Unit inspects your area. Clearly, you would think that you complied with every single dot they told you to do.

Fire inspection is one. Believe me, they will FIND EVERY SINGLE SPECK OF ERROR (even when there is clearly none) until you finally quit and just give in. After giving in, you finally get an approval for them. For people who are used to this, they can get a business up and running in no time because they already know what to do.

Electrical stuff approval. This is the first time I've actually heard of this and this is outrageous. Do you know that you have to apply for a permit if you are going to add additional wall sockets?? It's not like he was adding 10! He just added one! He was penalized for that. Do I have to apply for an electrical permit for an extension cord? Please advice.

Red tape in motoring. I actually have fewer problems now with LTO ever since they applied the computerized system. The only crappy thing about this is the medical stuffs. I paid around 250 pesos (r250, right?) just to get the in-house doctor to sign the paper without actually conducting any test or asking me anything. I paid him, he got a pre-filled out paper and wrote my name. After that, he signed it and it's done.

You see, the more requirements the government asks, the more ways these corrupt government officials can extract money from us. As much as people want to do business legally here, some result to giving in and bribing just to get pass this very challenging road to approval.

#5 reason of all the above - Corruption

Yes. Because of the uncontrollable greedy human nature to improve one's lifestyle, these government officials resort to this. Sad but true. From LGU's to high ranking officials, it is rampant. Of course, I am not generalizing everyone. There are also some honest officials left, I think. These officials are afraid of the media and that is why they are either killed or they are untouchable.

THANK GOD FOR THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH. At least it is saving us even for a bit.

*Just a follow up. For Dept. of Interior and Local Government, monitor your firefighters, ok? Some are asking for money in exchange for putting out the fire.