Grow Your Business

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has urged the micro businesses, particularly the tiangge and sari-sari stores, to register with the Philippine Business Registry (PBR) to legalize their businesses and reap benefits from government services for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs). DTI Undersecretary for Consumer Welfare and Business Regulation Group (CWBRG) Zenaida Cuison- Maglaya advised the owners of tiangge stalls and sari-sari stores to register with the PBR.

“All kinds of businesses, whether large or small scale, should register… they can avail of government services and they can use their registered business name in marketing their business,” she said.


Tiangges and sari-sari stores are classified under the micro-enterprises. Micro-enterprises are defined as any business activity or enterprise engaged in industry, agribusiness, or services, whether single proprietorship, cooperative, partnership or corporation whose total assets amount to P3 million or less and employs about one to nine persons.


Tiangges and sari-sari stores are considered informally as part of the “underground economy” due to its small business size and are usually not registered with appropriate government agencies. DTI has made it easier for entrepreneurs to register their businesses through the PBR, which was launched last March in all DTI field offices to accommodate transactions for new business registrations. A transaction will only take 15 to 30 minutes and will involve only a two-page PBR application form.


Owners of micro-business do not have to spend large amount of money to register their business. Maglaya said a micro-business pays only for the business name (BN) registration, in which the amount depends on the preferred business name scope. A micro-entrepreneur, for example, who wishes to confine the right to use his/her BN within a barangay will pay P200 for registration; within a city/municipality, P500; within a region, P1,000; and national, P2,000.


Maglaya reiterated that micro-businesses will only pay for the BN Certificate from DTI, and there is no additional charge for application for the Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and Employer Registration Numbers (ERNs) from the Social Security System (SSS), Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-IBIG), and PhilHealth.