Muntinlupa City has posted a 26-percent increase in business tax collections in 2008, from P424 million to P535 million during the first 11 months of the past year.

The Business Permit and Licensing Office said collections from January to November reached a P535.39 million, an increase of P110.85 million collected in the same period of 2007.

The number of business establishments grew from 11,311 in 2007 to 12,779 in 2008, representing 1,468 new registrants.

Muntinlupa Mayor Aldrin San Pedro attributed the improvement in tax take to programs that streamlined procedures in starting a business.

The Business One-Stop Shop allows company principals to obtain or renew their permits from different offices at just one venue.

“The increase in tax collected is credited to the confidence of businessmen in investing in Muntinlupa,” San Pedro added.

Earlier, he appealed to authorities and the media to drop “Alabang Boys” in describing three suspects arrested by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in a bust operation.

He said the term gave a bad image to the city, making it less attractive to investors and visitors.

San Pedro said the hype was uneventful because Alabang was starting to boom as a financial hub and the disparaging term would negate the otherwise positive appeal to business locators. Ferdinand Fabella