Hundreds of establishment closes business during pandemic

Nearly a thousand business establishments have stopped their operations and surrendered their business permits back to the city government during the two years of the coronavirus disease pandemic, mostly tourism-related establishments.

The economic impact of the pandemic was particularly felt by establishments like accommodations, souvenir shops, bars, amusement, review centers, schools and other establishment categorized as non-essential services during the pandemic like spa and saloon among others according to Allan Abayao, Supervising Administrative Officer of the Business Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO).

The BPLO officer reported 194 businesses have declared closure by retiring their business permits in 2020; 428 have surrendered their permits last year and 335 have closed as of May 2022 for a total of 957 establishments.

Based on the data from the BPLO, establishments that decreased include those under Accommodation and Food Services. This comprised 20.03 percent or 6,620 business permits issued last year but this was lower compared to the 7,321 licenses issued in 2020. The figure is still down at 5,411 as of May 2022.

Other Service Activities particularly beauty parlors, salons, barber shops and laundry services also suffered the economic brunt of the pandemic. Business permits were down from 897 in 2020 to 874 in 2021 and still low at 694 as of May 2022.

Even businesses under Manufacturing have decreased from 649 to 607; Administrative and Support Service Activities mostly computer services and computer shops, travel and tours have decreased from 842 to 568; and Financial and insurance Activities including microfinance were down from 503 to 491.Other business classifications that decreased from 2020 to 2021 include: Education (274 down to 204); Transport and Storage (201 down to 184); Arts, Entertainment and Recreation (164 down to 140); Information and Communication (102 down to 98); Electricity and Gas (47 down to 39); and Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Management (28 down to 26). – Jessa Mardy P. Samidan