THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday officially inaugurated its extension office in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, as part of efforts to make doing business easier in the Mindanao region.

The new office was opened following the request of the Regional Development Council of the Caraga Region to bring SEC services closer to Mindanao while also improving bureaucratic and regulatory efficiency.

"Choosing Butuan as the newest location for our extension office was an easy decision to make," SEC Chairman Emilio Aquino said in a statement.

Records showed that over 7,100 registered corporations and partnerships as of December 2023 were located in Caraga, which was previously under the jurisdiction of the SEC Cagayan de Oro Extension Office.

The Caraga Region also registered a gross domestic product of more than P320 billion in 2022.

"[T]he high number of business name registrations in the area shows its potential to become a thriving business hub in the future," Aquino added.

"The SEC seeks to support this potential by creating an enabling environment that will make doing business easier for entrepreneurs in the region through the services provided by the SEC Butuan Extension Office."

The opening of the Butuan office, the SEC noted, was also aligned with its mandate to ensure efficient delivery of services and enforcement of laws concerning the capital market, financing firms, and the corporate sector in general.

The new location followed the establishment of the Tacloban office in May 2023 and marked the commission's 11th extension office. The regulator also operates offices in Baguio, Tarlac, Legazpi, Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo, Zamboanga and Davao.

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