Dr. Eduardo F. Macose, Director for Extension and Mr. Sherwin B. Glorioso, RACO-CLARRDEC recently attended a special meeting with the other members of the Academe in Region III regarding the LGU-Business Permit and Licensing System Validation in Central Luzon, a project under the supervision of the Regional Development Council III-Special Committee on Competitiveness which was held at the DTI-3 Conference Room, Angeles City last August 29, 2013. Procedures and strategies for the conduct of validation were discussed for the benefits of the people from the Academe who will be directly involved in conducting the validation survey on the implementation of the BPLS streamlining on selected local government units(LGUs) in the region. The Business Permit and Licensing (BPLS) streamlining program is a part of the nationwide validation project of the National Competitiveness Council that aims to attract investors by making licensing process less tedious and to increase the local government’s competitiveness business processing.

Meanwhile, ARD Judith P. Angeles also acknowledged the effort of the State Universities and Colleges in the recently conducted Local Economic Development and Competitiveness Index Survey for 2012 where outputs were also presented during the meeting. Part of the nationwide result shows that most of the Central Luzon LGUs are included in the top 50 cities and municipalities. Also, the LGU Maria Aurora were included in the top 5 Municipalities for Governance Efficiency while the Municipality of Baler were also at the top 5 for the lowest rate of electricity
at Php. 5.37 per KwH.