Register your company
in the Philippines.

You must first register the company name and then obtain the required permits from the Barangay (local government unit) where your business is located. Once that is completed the company must register with the Bureau of Inland Revenue. Then, specific industry licences can be obtained, the bank account can be opened and the staff can be registered with social security.

When submitting your company name for registration, the SEC will check that the name is distinguishable from other corporate names already registered. You will need to add words to ably distinguish yours from an existing company with a similar name. Using only punctuation, spacing or symbols to distinguish the name will be rejected.

In addtion to registering a name that is clearly distinguishable, the SEC apply the following rules:

1. If a corporation, the corporate name must contain either of the following words: “Corporation,” “Incorporated,” “Corp.,” or “Inc.”;
2. If a One Person Corporation, the corporate name must contain the word “OPC” either below or at the end of its corporate name;
3. If a partnership, the partnership name must contain the word “Company” or “Co.”;
4. If a limited partnership, the partnership name must contain the word “Limited” or “Ltd.”;
5. If a professional partnership, the partnership name may bear either of the following words: “Company,” “Associates,” or “Partners,” or other similar descriptions;
6. If a foundation, the corporate name must use the word “Foundation”;
7. If a non-stock, non-profit corporation, including non-governmental organizations and foundations engaged in microfinance activities, the corporate name must use the word “Microfinance” or “Microfinancing”; provided, that said corporations shall state in the purpose clause of their Articles of Incorporation that they shall conduct microfinance operations pursuant to Republic Act No. 8425 or the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act;
8. If an entity engaged in the financing or investment house business, the corporate name can contain the following words: “Finance Company,” “Financing Company,” “Finance and Leasing Company,” and “Leasing Company,” “Investment Company,” “Investment House”;
9. If a lending company, the corporate name can contain either “Lending Company” or “Lending Investor;
10. If an entity authorized to operate pawnshop, the corporate name can make use of “Pawnshop”;
11. If an entity engaged in the banking or trust business, the corporate name can bear any of the following words: “Bank,” “Banking,” “Banker,” “Savings and Loan Association”, “Trust Corporation,” “Trust Company” or words of similar meaning;
12. If the United Nations and its attached agencies, the words which can be used are “United Nations”, or “UN”;
13. If entity with licensed warehouse, the corporate name can bear the word “Bonded”;
14. If corporations authorized to act as special purpose vehicle, the corporate name can make use of “SPV-AMC”;
15. The name of an international governmental organization, such as “International Criminal Police Organization” (INTERPOL), “International Monetary Fund” (IMF), and “International Labour Organization” (ILO) may not be used as part of a corporate or partnership name unless when duly authorized or allowed by the Commission”; and,
16. ASEAN (protected under Article 6ter of the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, adopted in 1883 and revised in Stockholm in 1976).

 

The registrations with SEC and Bureau of Inland Revenue (BIR) can be completed relatively quickly. However, the completion of the Local Government (Barangays) permits can take up to eight weeks.

It is possible to set up a One Person Corporation (OPC) in the Philippines and maintain limited liability, even for foreigners, although the minimum capital for foreign owned OPC is USD200,000. The most common type of company set-up is a Domestic Corporation, which is a limited liability company that can have between 2 and 15 shareholders.

No. The directors must be natural persons, even if they are resident outside the Philippines.