DENR averaged 300 transactions

Per day on Permitting on Wheels

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol (PIA)—For two days, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) served over 600 clients when the office drove out of its walls to Tagbilaran City’s mall activity hub and facilitated the processing and release of key permits, concessions, and tenurial instruments.

Through its trailblazing DENR Express: Permitting on Wheels, the office averaged about 300 clients a day, delivering its key functions in environmental permitting, pollution control officer accreditation, issuing hazardous waste generator identification, certificates of non-coverage, environmental compliance certificates (ECC), discharge permits and a horde of other environmental services under its Environmental Management Bureau (EMB), according to DENR Bohol information officer Vinesse Shalome Ponte.

The DENR EMB managed to release 358 of these documents in record two days.

On the same week, the issue of wood furniture workers workshops and processing plants became a sensation, when the DENR issued notices of violations for failure to secure ECCs and Wood Workers Processing Plant permits.

Many believe wood workers simply whose capitalizations fall under the micro and small enterprises did not know they would still need the ECC and WWPP permit, noting that a local business permit and a Bureau of Internal Revenue registration is enough.

It turns out that, with the Permitting on wheels, as long as the documents are ready, a WWPP permit can be had in a day or two.

During the service one-stop-shop caravan, DENR Forestry Management Bureau (FMB), in the two days afforded the office the time to grant 26 chainsaw permits, tree cutting permits, WWPP, bamboo registration and lumber distributor applications.

In total, the FMB served 26 of these transactions.

For its land management services, the Land Management Bureau (LMB) was able to tally free subdivision surveys, released free patents, issued land status certifications, foreshore leases and forest management agreement distributions, accepted monthly report submissions, and provided geo-hazard certifications for an over-all total of 110 transactions, Ponte added.

For its Mines and Geo sciences Bureau (MGB), DENR issued evaluation of area clearances, responded to geological land scoping, quarry status, direct clearances and ecological assessments, serving six of these transactions.

Beyond these services, in the two days when the environment bureau took to the mall, its released tree replacements ad eseedlings, Protected Area Management Board clearances.

In an activity that was also done simultaneously throughout the country, Bohol’s express permitting service had DENR Region 7, OIC Regional Executive Director Laudemir S. Salac, EMB Regional Director Atty. John Edward Ang, and MGB OIC Regional Director Al Emil Berador.

Bohol governor Erico Aristotle Aumentado cited the activity as a breath of fresh air for the local economy and testament to the "Bagong Pilipinas" brand of governance: proactive, efficient, and, most importantly, centered on the needs of the Filipino people.

For too long, our small and medium-scale business owners have faced the daunting challenge of traveling long distances just to file

environmental requirements. Today, we end that "pabalik-balik" culture. The "Permitting on Wheels," is DENR’s vital services brought directly to doorstep here in Tagbilaran City, Aumentado said.

Deploying mobile hubs and on-site technical teams, the government is making environmental compliance accessible and transparent, he added.

This ensures that no Boholano entrepreneur is left behind in our transition to a more digital and streamlined government processes, the governor capped. (PIABohol)

DOORSTEP SERVICE. In two days, DENR sped up and served over 600 transactions rendered by its bureaus, many of them regulatory and in support of the micro, small and medium enterprises that have been tagged as the real engines for rural economic grind. The day also afforded Boholanos the presence of regional bureau heads, who dished out personal guidance to issues that have been hounding Bohol business operators. (PIABohol/GO)