HOW I ACQUIRED MY OCCUPATIONAL PERMIT AT QUEZON CITY HALL

         Most companies would require their employees to secure occupational permit as requirement to practice their occupation. As a freelance professional, I secured an occupational permit not only to practice my profession but also to secure a new Certificate of Registration at the Bureau of Internal Revenue RDO 40 Cubao.

          Getting an occupational permit at Quezon City Hall is not easy, compared to Tacloban City Hall, Makati City Hall and other jurisdiction. The queue and red tape may be discouraging. Waiting in line may be laborious but your efforts would pay off once you get your occupational permit. Now, I am writing this blog entry to help the prospect applicants secure the documents that they need and save them time from asking people from the City Hall who do not even give clear directions (some are friendly actually).

STEP 1: SECURE CEDULA, POLICE CLEARANCE or NBI CLEARANCE, and LABORATORY TEST RESULT AT CITY HEALTH or OTHER ACCREDITED LABORATORIES

         These are the following documents I obtained. I included the fees and waiting time, for your guidance.

DOCUMENT	FEE	WAITING TIME
Barangay Clearance	Free of Charge Note: Some barangays charge Php30.00 for issuance and Php15.00 for the documentary stamp.	seconds
Cedula	Php 55 Note: I acquired my cedula at our Barangay Hall. The fee will vary depending on the amount of income you declared for the preceding year.	seconds
Police Clearance             (or NBI Clearance)	Php 250 Breakdown: I paid Php 150 for the issuance of police clearance and P100 for the ID, which is valid for one year. You may actually opt for NBI Clearance which cost P115.	1 to 2 hours
Laboratory Test   Result	P120 Note: You will have your stool and sputum examined. They sell containers for Php5 each for your specimens.	15 to 30 minutes

In order to secure NBI clearance, you will need at least 2 valid IDs with address in Quezon City. On the other hand, getting a police clearance only requires 1 valid ID with address in Quezon City. If you don't have one, a barangay clearance will do. My driver's license is still addressed in Tacloban City, so I had to secure a barangay clearance from the barangay hall. They asked me for proof of billing with my name on it. I presented original copies of my bank statement and internet bill that is why they issued me the document. I acquired cedula at the barangay hall, too so there's no need to acquire cedula at the city hall anymore. 

While waiting for your police clearance you may go to any nearby accredited laboratory to have your stool and sputum examined. I chose Gilcare Diagnostics because of its short waiting time. I did not choose City Health because I've read in some blogs that getting the applicants' specimens examined and waiting for the result there takes forever.

Update 02-04-2019: There are non-QC residents getting getting their occupational permit at QC Hall because they work in QC. When I applied for NBI Clearance at Ali Mall last 2016 using my drivers' license with address from Tacloban City, it was accepted.

 STEP 2: SECURE ORDER OF PAYMENT FOR MAYOR'S PERMIT and HEALTH CERTIFICATE

After obtaining the documents, you are ready to get your order of payment at the tent in front of Land Bank.There are separate lines for getting order of payments for Mayor's Permit and Health Certificate, respectively. It took me almost an hour to wait in each line.

STEP 3: PAY AT THE CITY TREASURER'S CASHIER

The City Treasurer's cashier is located near Landbank. It took me more than an hour to wait in line just to pay. I paid Php170 for Mayor's Permit and Php94 for the Health Certificate.

STEP 4: SECURE APPLICATION FORM FOR OCCUPATIONAL PERMIT 

Oh, yes. After paying at the City Treasurer's Cashier,  I had to go back to the same tent in front of Landbank just to fall in line for the application form. I waited for less than an hour to fall in line for a piece of paper. It would be too late to complain because I am a step away to get my occupational permit.

Oh, and by the way, the Quezon City Hall website says you can actually download the form to avoid the long queue. I did not notice any applicants filling up a downloaded form so I just followed what they did by falling in line. Here's a copy of a downloaded application form.

STEP 5: HAVE YOUR PICTURE TAKEN AT THE BUSINESS PERMIT LICENSING OFFICE 

I actually fell in line for less than 30 minutes, so it was okay.  I met a beauty consultant from Revlon who happened to be processing her occupational permit, too. Her name is Adele and she works in Ortigas. Having our picture taken was quick.

STEP 6: WAIT FOR THE RELEASE OF YOUR OCCUPATIONAL PERMIT AT THE BASEMENT

Well, we waited for more than 2 hours for the release of our occupational permit which I did not mind at all because we were given the chance to sit down.  So, while waiting for the document, Adele and I had a long conversation. The security guard in charge of the release was actually very nice. So, here's what an occupational permit issued by Quezon City looks like.

  

Notice the discrepancies with the amount I paid at the City Treasurer's cashier and the amount indicated in my occupational permit.

DOCUMENT	ACTUAL AMOUNT PAID AT THE CITY TREASURER’S CASHIER	AMOUNT INDICATED IN THE OCCUPATIONAL PERMIT
Mayor’s Permit	Php 170	Php 150
Health Certificate	Php 94	Php 50

A total discrepancy of Php 64.00! Actually, the small amount is no big deal to me that is why I did not contest that small discrepancy. However, it crossed my mind that if we would consider the number of taxpayers getting an occupational permit every year, then Quezon City would raise a lot of revenue.

Anyway, to those who came across my blog entry, please do not  be discouraged with the process I went through because by the time you apply for occupational permit, you might not experience the hours of waiting I went through. One reason why it took two days to process my occupational permit is because I applied on January 2015. January is the month when employees would also renew their permits and they are required to renew before January 31. Meaning to say, there was plenty of people. The process would also depend on your City Hall. I've heard that the processes in Makati and Bulacan are faster, compared to Quezon City.

To our Business Processing and Licensing Division, I have suggestions which I highly recommend as a taxpayer of Quezon City. If you come across my blog, I hope you consider my constructive criticism. The problem is the difficulty in processing our occupational permit. I see the root cause in the unnecessary queues. The taxpayers need to fall in line five times,to wit:

1) Get order of payment for mayor's permit.

2) Get order of payment for health certificate.

3) Pay at the City Treasurer's cashier.

4) Get application form for occupational permit.

5) Have our picture taken at BPLO building and wait for the release of the occupational permit.

So, here are my suggestions: The queues in numbers 1 and 2 can be consolidated in one queue and there's no need for a queue in number 4 anymore. I suggest that application forms should be readily available with the security guard just like SSS, BIR and other government agencies. Your website provided a link to download the application form for printing and that's good. In cases of long queues, a personnel should check the requirements of applicants waiting in line to see whether they are complete or not. I noticed some applicants who fell in line for nothing because they lack requirements. Remember, these people are taxpayers too. We contribute a lot in raising revenue for Quezon City. So, I suggest for your division to assist us by restructuring the process in getting permits especially during peak times. If Quezon City is promoting Anti-Red Tape, you can start by eliminating the unnecessary queues.  

Update 02-04-2019: To avoid the long queue, I renewed my occupational permit  from 2016 to 2017 at around November or December. Because very few people would transact at QC Hall during those months, I was able to get my occupational permit in less than an hour. I quit my work from home last year and I'm now with a new employer at QC which requires occupational permit as pre-employment requirement. So, I applied for occupational permit on the last week of May 2018, a non-peak season. Because I already have my cedula and NBI clearance, I was able to secure my occupational permit in approximately one hour.

Source:

http://www.quezoncity.gov.ph/index.php/qc-services/requirements-a-procedures/504-occupational-permit


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