I'm Giancarlo Enrico S. Pozon, a Wushu instructor, investor and Barrister... That's right, Barrister; I graduated from law school and took the Bar Exams, now I'm waiting for the results. I created this blog to make Philippine Law easy to understand for the average person. It's all about free legal advice. There are many law blogs. But the problem is that many of them are written for lawyers and law students. They use words that can't be understood by ordinary people.
Many lawyers, judges and law students consider themselves as superior to most human beings because of their knowledge of the law. It bothers me since the law is supposed to serve society. Since the law is meant to serve society as a whole, it is important that is must be understood by everybody.
This does not mean that we should all become lawyers. It means that although law is a highly specialized profession, the first duty of everybody in this profession is to make the law understandable to all; that's why all these articles are free legal advice.
Like I said, this blog is about law -but it's for the ordinary people, not the lawyers. It's for the ordinary folk so they will know what is good and bad for them, and that making them aware of the law will help us all improve society as a whole. This is free legal advice for everybody!
The BMBE, or Barangay Micro-Business Enterprise, Law of 2002 (RA 9178) was enacted to promote the growth of small-scale industries. A business qualifies as a BMBE if its capitalization does not exceed Php3 Million (which doesn't include the land and building where the business is located.) Although the law prioritizes agriculture-based businesses, it can be availed by anyone. It doesn't matter if the business is a restaurant, sari-sari store, or an internet cafe. Also, it doesn't matter if the business is a sole proprietorship, corporation, coop or partnership. The main benefits of the BMBE Law are (1) the exemption of the business from income tax on income from operations and (2) exemption from the payment of minimum wage. All other benefits are irrelevant. To avail of the exemption, a certification must be procured from City Hall along with an application from the BIR. Once granted, a certificate has a lifetime of two (2) years and is renewable. The text of the law is silent as to how many times the certificate can be renewed.
Section 4
Under Sec. 4 of the law, applications for a certificate must be processed within 15 days upon submission of the requirements. If the city or municipal treasurer or office responsible for BMBE registration fails to act on the application, the BMBE is deemed registered!
This is the section in verbatim:
Section 4
Under Sec. 4 of the law, applications for a certificate must be processed within 15 days upon submission of the requirements. If the city or municipal treasurer or office responsible for BMBE registration fails to act on the application, the BMBE is deemed registered!
This is the section in verbatim:
Sec. 4. Registration and Fees - The Office of the Treasurer of each city or municipality shall register the BMBE's and issue a Certificate of Authority to enable the BMBE to avail of the benefits under this Act. Any such applications shall be processed within fifteen (15) working days upon submission of complete documents. Otherwise, the BMBEs shall be deemed registered. The Municipal or City Mayor may appoint a BMBE Registration Officer who shall be under the Office of the Treasurer. Local government units (LGU's) are encouraged to establish a One-Stop-business Registration Center to handle the efficient registration and processing of permits/licenses of BMBEs. Likewise, LGUs shall make a periodic evaluation of the BMBE's financial status for monitoring and reporting purposes.
The LGUs shall issue the Certificate of Authority promptly and free of charge. However, to defray the administrative costs of registering and monitoring the BMBEs, the LGUs may charge a fee renewal.
The Certificate of Authority shall be effective for a period of two (2) years, renewable for a period of two (2) years for every renewal.
As much as possible, BMBEs shall be subject to minimal bureaucratic requirements and reasonable fees and charges.
Penalties
Violations of the law include any manner to defeat the law's provisions and are punishable by a fine of Php25,000.00 to 50,000.00 and/or imprisonment for 6 months to 2 years.
Government financial institutions that fail to comply with the financial assistance under the BMBE law will be subject to administrative sanctions and other penalties, including a fine of Php500,000.00.
This is the penalty section in verbatim:
Sec. 13. Penalty - Any person who shall willfully violates any provision of this Act or who shall in any manner commit any act to defeat any provisions of this Act shall, upon conviction, be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five Thousand Pesos (P25,000.00) but not more than Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) and suffer imprisonment of not less than six (6) months but not more than two (2) years.
In case of non-compliance with the provisions of Sec. 9 of this Act, the BSP shall impose administrative sanctions and other penalties on the concerned government financial institutions, including a fine of not less than Five Hundred Thousand Pesos (P500,000.00)
So there you have it; this is something the government has no right to deny.
4 comments:
This is very helpful. I'm glad to have read your post. My girlfriend and I were told in the city hall where we are planning to have our business that, BMBE application is only good for cottage businesses and does not include food service business like putting up a small restaurant. We were confused on how they answered us. They said that they do not give out such application since people there do not apply for it. Thank you very much.
Hi miguel, sorry for the late reply. Not many people are aware of the BMBE Law. That's why city hall tends to be reluctant. I'm glad that you inquired about it. We need more people to know what the BMBE law is about. Keep up the good work!
Hi Sir Enrico, i have a question about BMBE Law. If you have email add so i can detail my prob. thank you so much
Good morning, just want to inquire on business permit. I operate a small canteen with a capital of 5,000.00. I went to our barangay and was told to pay for my barangay clearance, upon payment of fees I was issued a business plate, since I fall under micro business. After 6 months there was a mopping and I was apprehended for non payment of municipal permit. Do I have to secure municipal permit?
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