Doing Business in Philippines: Fact and Myth

Another bloggers' website published a blog's article titled Philippines Fact and Myth but the article is geared towards living in Philippines in general.

Let's keep this post the most realistic way of doing business in Philippines, fact and myth.

For example, I was asked if Philippine officials accept under-the-table- money to get business application done.

The most realistic answer is... NOT True but NOT False. Public servants do their work deligently and perhaps when too much work is in their table, some oversight do happen and resulting to permits or business application not approved.

Majority of public servants do not accept bribes but there are those who do, particularly if you are stubborn, not respecting the public servant and do not have complete paperwork.

In order to expedite your business transaction in public offices, always have your paperwork in order and have backup copies. Do not go to public office during rush hours, you are definitely going to quieu in a long line.

I have never provided any bribe to any public servant or officials and always have any government transaction done in a timely manner and have also done in a rush manner without paying extra fees.

I discourage everyone to give bribes just to get paperworks done. You may get-away now but in your next application, the public servant may catch you.

For example, a foreign businessman wanted to marry the Filipina but he is staying only in the country for a week. The foreign businessman bribed to get things done faster and according to his wish. He did get what he wanted but it does not mean that in the next step, he would not get into trouble.

During registration of marriage in NSO office, the public servant reviewed the papers and it was found that the papers were in violation of the marriage ordinance and hence was flagged and was subjected to investigation.

The reason why a foreigner is deterred to get marriage done quicker is to discourage using marriage as a means of human trafficking.