The entry of the Muntinlupa City government highlighting an innovative business transaction system did the Philippines proud when the city made it as one of the five finalists in the prestigious 4th International Best Practice Competition held during the 1st International Conference on Productivity and Innovation hosted by the Development Academy of the Philippines recently.
The entry, named “Single-Window Transaction (SWiT) Modified Business One-Stop Shop (MBOSS),” impressed the judges for enabling clients applying for business permits and renewal to complete a transaction within 30 minutes or less using only one counter and one staff member to transact with.
22 other entries
Introduced by Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi just in recent months, the MBOSS-SWiT scheme was presented by Gary Llamas, chief of the city’s Business Permits and Licensing Office, during the contest, which saw 22 other entries from seven Asia-Pacific countries – India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Iran, the United States and the Philippines – participating in this event overseen by the New Zealand-based Center for Organizational Excellence Research (COER) in coordination with the DAP and the Asian Productivity Organization (APO).
The SWiT-MBOSS actually qualified first as one of the top entries in the DAP-sponsored Government Best Practice Competition last October, besting 17 other entries from national agencies and local government units in the country that qualified for the contest.
Two Filipino finalists
It was actually one of two finalists from the Philippines, the other being Texas Instruments Philippines. The Al Jazeera International Catering LLC and Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services, both of the United Arab Emirates, shared top honors in the competition while the City of El Paso in Texas, the United States, was the fifth to make it to the finals.
The competition is held annually to encourage organizations to “share their best operational and managerial practices, processes, systems and initiatives” while learning from the experience of others.
The event was a component activity of the 1st International Conference on Productivity and Innovation participated in by more than 200 foreign and local delegates at Novotel in Cubao, Quezon City last November 26 and 27.