SEC-Cebu Cuts Processing Time For ‘Good Standing’ Certificate

Companies that need to obtain ‘Certificate of Good Standing’ from the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) in Cebu will no longer have to wait for two weeks to get the document as the agency has significantly cut its processing time to one day.

SEC-Cebu Extension Office Director Lindeza Gavino said unlike before, the release takes about two weeks because the signatory comes from their main headquarters in Manila.

“The Certificate of Good Standing required by companies will be released the same day of payment,” bared Gavino as the current process makes it easier for the agency to check through their database if the corporation is compliant to SEC requirements.

Gavino, however, said companies that request for the ‘Certificate of Good Standing’ at their satellite office in Robinsons Galleria Cebu may be released the next day as the document still has to be forwarded to their office where she is based for her signature.

“Yet still we do not even wait for the standard period applied by our office which is within three days,” said Gavino.

But for documents that need to be reviewed by their accounting and legal departments, these might take longer, said Gavino, adding that they are trying their best to make it easy for companies to continue doing business.

The ‘Certificate of Good Standing’ shows proof that companies have complied with the reportorial requirements of the SEC such as the General Information Sheet, Audited Financial Statements and the required securities deposits for branch offices of foreign corporations.

Meanwhile, SEC is the only government agency that received a “Very Good” ranking based on sincerity among 35 institutions in the February to May Social Weather Station (SWS) Enterprise Survey, Gavino said.

Nine other government agencies received a “Good” rating in the same survey including the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Labor and Employment and the Office of the President.

Among the factors cited by Gavino for the “Very Good” ranking are the efforts of the agency to upgrade its services and trying to give quick access to the public, developing tools for transparency and swift actions taken on deficiencies noted by clients.

On November 11, SEC will celebrate its 80th anniversary as the agency was created in 1936 under the Commonwealth Act. (rmn/fcr/PIA7)