MAYOR REVEALS NEW CITY'S RALLYING CALL

STA. ROSA CITY – "Take the lead, stay ahead." This is now the rallying call of this bustling city as it celebrated its fourth year anniversary last July 10, 2008.
In her State of the City Report at the City Hall, City Mayor Arlene Arcillas-Nazareno cited the tremendous growth the City of Santa Rosa has gained over the last four years. With an income that breached the PhP 1 billion mark, she said the revenue is unparalleled and will continue to increase as the City Government completes its computerization project that integrates real property tax and business tax administration system that is assisted by geographical information system.
The Santa Rosa City Computerization Project is considered by the Bureau of Local Government Finance-Department of Finance as a first of its kind in Luzon. It is a tax mapping project under the Logofind grant program of the Department of Finance with the assistance of the World Bank.
Mayor Arcillas-Nazareno also enumerated the accomplishments the City Government has achieved over the last year, saying that the City of Santa Rosa is now among the most admirable city because of its rapid growth
Santa Rosa is now among the next wave of cities of the Philippines and is ranked among the top 10 cities by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI). It was recently named the ICT Hub of Laguna and is expected to be the center of the business process outsource industry in Calabarzon as many IT-related companies are looking to locate to the city.
"As business and employment climate stea-dily develop, the City Government is tasked with a bigger responsibility to sustain the influx of investors," Mayor Arcillas-Nazareno said. On this note, she called on the city's civil service "to bring genuine development to the City and provide all the necessary services to our people."
She said that with a clear vision and solid accomplishments the City has the opportunity to take the lead and stay ahead in our region and even in the entire country. She enumerated the goals of the City for its children under the banner ANAK SANTA ROSA. With this, she said the all programs and projects of the City Government will all be geared to making the city "Angat at Nangunguna." (ARIES ZAPANTA/City Information Office)

NERBAC CALABARZON LAUNCHED

CALAMBA CITY - The Department of Trade and Industry launched NERBAC CALABARZON during the Regional Development Council Meeting last June 11, 2008 at the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, DENR, Forestry Campus, UP Los Baños, Laguna.
The launch featured the signing of a declaration of commitment among national government agencies and the leagues of cities and municipalities in the Philippines.
NERBAC CALABARZON, or the National Economic Research and Business Assistance Center in Calabarzon, is a virtual one-stop-shop business registration office that rationalizes current systems in the processing of applications for starting up businesses.
The center's main feature will be an online business registration facility which is a collaboration of national and local government agencies to help streamline business registration procedures in the country.
Businesses registration including applications for license and permits could be filed in a single online application form - a single data-entry which automatically flows to concerned agencies thus eliminating repetitive submission of the same business information consequently reducing time, cost and red tape.
Created under Republic Act 470, NERBAC Calabarzon will also serve as a regional bank of information relevant to trade and investments vital to business start-up and a central venue for the promotion and facilitation of trade & investments in the CALABARZON Region as well.
NERBAC CALABARZON will rely on the Philippine Business Registry (PBR) as a main facility to simplify processes by streamlining registration requirements in an environment enhanced by convergence and information technology, although there would still be physical presence of major partner agencies at least once per week to do the frontline service.
At its initial stage, the PBR will serve as a database of business entities including small and medium enterprises and will allow access and sharing of data to and from other relevant agencies like the BIR, SSS, and SEC. In addition, the PBR will host entity-based data and functions as a knowledge management base for statistical and analytical requirements.
NERBAC CALABARZON's partners includes the National Economic and Development Authority, Department of Trade and Industry, Regional Development Council IV-A, Securities and Exchange Commission, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Social Security System, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Cooperative Development Authority, Department of Agriculture, DENR, Department of Foreign Affairs, DILG, Department of Health, Department Of Labor and Employment, Department of Tourism, League of Cities of The Philippines, League of Municipalities of the Philippines, PagIbig Fund, and PhilHealth. (CHARLIE S. DAJAO/Department of Trade and Industry Region IV-A)