Search Philippines SEC eSEARCH / DTI BNRS

TL;DR. The Philippines has two official registries: the SEC for corporations and partnerships, and the DTI for sole proprietors. https://www.sec.gov.ph returns Cloudflare HTTP 403. Live eSEARCH at https://esearch.sec.gov.ph/ is HTTP 200 with og:title eSEARCH | Electronic SEC Education, Analysis, and Research Computing Hub; that page is a login hub, not a free no-account search. BNRS at https://bnrs.dti.gov.ph/ is HTTP 200 (title BNRS - Business Name Registration at your fingertips!). PHP fees are not on those live pages and are dropped. Instant is not live-cited. The Philippines was removed from the FATF grey list in February 2025.

What is the official Philippines business registry?

The Philippines operates two parallel company registries depending on entity type.

SEC Philippines governs stock corporations, non-stock corporations, partnerships, and foreign branch offices. It operates under the Revised Corporation Code of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 11232), which took effect in 2019. The live public-facing portal in this check is SEC eSEARCH at https://esearch.sec.gov.ph/ (HTTP 200, login hub; og:title eSEARCH | Electronic SEC Education, Analysis, and Research Computing Hub). https://www.sec.gov.ph returns Cloudflare HTTP 403. The SEC also maintains eFAST (Electronic Filing and Submission Tool) for registered users needing document retrieval and filing submissions.

DTI Philippines governs sole proprietorships and business name registrations. It operates the Business Name Registration System (BNRS), at https://bnrs.dti.gov.ph/ (HTTP 200). Name availability checks, registration, renewal, and certificate-request flows were not re-read as a working search UI on that landing HTML.

Foreign corporations operating in the Philippines must register both with the SEC (for the foreign branch/representative office) and may also register a business name with the DTI if operating under a trade name different from their corporate name.

All registered corporations are assigned a Company Registration Number (CRN) by the SEC at incorporation. Sole proprietorships are assigned a DTI Business Name Certificate number.

What can you search?

SEC eSEARCH at https://esearch.sec.gov.ph/ is HTTP 200 as a login hub / JS shell, not a results page. Search UI beyond that hub was not observed. Company name, Company Registration Number (CRN), registered agent or incorporator, entity-type filter, and basic-search field lists (registered company name, CRN, company type, SEC registration date, registration status including active, revoked, expired, dissolved) were not observed on the login-hub HTML and are not live-cited.

Paid eFAST document contents (articles of incorporation, GIS, audited financial statements, certificates of good standing) were not observed on that login-hub HTML.

DTI BNRS at https://bnrs.dti.gov.ph/ is HTTP 200. Business name search, DTI Certificate Number lookup, and BNRS result-field lists (business name, certificate number, registration date, expiry date, owner name, business address, business nature) were not re-read as a working search UI on that landing HTML and are not live-cited from eSEARCH.

Neither portal was observed offering cross-entity director searches or beneficial ownership disclosures on the live eSEARCH login hub or BNRS landing. Do not invent UBO fields. GIS as an annual SEC filing is a statutory return; GIS field contents were not observed on the eSEARCH login-hub HTML.

How much does it cost?

PHP fees (including PHP 50-500) are not on the live eSEARCH or BNRS HTML and are dropped. priceMax 0 means Unknown, not verified free. Do not treat eSEARCH as a free no-account lookup: the live 200 page is a login hub.

Do you need a local account or ID?

Live eSEARCH at https://esearch.sec.gov.ph/ is HTTP 200 as a login hub, not a free no-account search. accountRequired is Yes. BNRS at https://bnrs.dti.gov.ph/ is HTTP 200 and includes a LOGIN control. To request certified documents via eFAST, a registered user account is required. Registration requires an email address and basic contact information. No Philippine national identity document is required for the account itself, but some document request workflows may ask for a purpose statement or authorization letter.

DTI BNRS document requests similarly require an account registration. Foreign buyers have successfully registered using international email addresses and non-Philippine contact details.

For compliance workflows requiring notarized or apostilled documents, additional steps involve the Professional Regulation Commission or DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs), which do require identity verification.

Is the website in English?

Yes. The live eSEARCH login-hub HTML and BNRS landing are in English. Search interfaces, document descriptions, status labels, and form fields inside eSEARCH after login were not observed on that hub HTML. The Philippines’ government digital services follow an English-first policy, reflecting the country’s use of English as an official language.

What’s the turnaround time?

Search turnaround was not live-cited as Instant on eSEARCH or BNRS and is Unknown. Do not treat older “instant” basic-search claims as a live path.

Document request times via eFAST and DTI were not on the live eSEARCH login hub or BNRS landing HTML.

Is there an API?

No. As of this check, neither the SEC nor DTI offers a documented public API for company search or document retrieval on the live eSEARCH or BNRS pages.

The SEC has announced plans for expanded digital services under its ongoing system modernization, but no API endpoint has been publicly released for external developers.

Screen scraping either portal likely violates the SEC’s and DTI’s terms of use and is not recommended for compliance workflows.

What you legally cannot do

Under the Revised Corporation Code and SEC regulations:

• Bulk downloading or automated scraping of the eSEARCH portal is not authorized
• Certified copies obtained from the SEC are for the stated purpose only; redistributing them commercially requires explicit SEC authorization
• Using registry data to compile marketing lists or for unsolicited commercial contact is restricted under the Data Privacy Act of 2012 (Republic Act No. 10173)
• Misrepresenting SEC or DTI document extracts as independently verified data is prohibited

The Data Privacy Act of 2012 also governs how personal data of officers and directors found in GIS filings may be used. Compliance buyers conducting CDD or AML verification are within permitted purpose, but the purpose must be documented.

Regarding FATF status: the Philippines was removed from the FATF grey list (Jurisdictions Under Increased Monitoring) in February 2025, following demonstrated improvements to its AML/CFT framework. Compliance buyers should be aware that Philippine counterparty screening requirements were elevated during the grey-list period (June 2021 to February 2025), and some internal bank policies may retain elevated scrutiny for historical transactions from that period.

Practical tips for foreign users

• Two registries. A sole proprietorship under a trade name is DTI-registered; a corporation is SEC-registered. Missing one registry is the most common error in Philippines KYC. Live eSEARCH is a login hub, not a results page. The SEC assigns a Company Registration Number (CRN) to each incorporated entity; the DTI assigns a separate DTI Certificate Number to sole proprietors. The two numbering systems do not overlap.
• GIS is the key document. The General Information Sheet (GIS) is the annual filing that discloses directors, officers, and top 20 stockholders. For compliance-grade verification, always request the most recent GIS, not just the registration extract.
• Registration status was not observed. Status values such as “active” were not on the live eSEARCH login-hub HTML and are not live-cited. An active status in the registry, when obtained after login, does not confirm current good standing. Request a Certificate of Good Standing for that confirmation.
• Foreign branch offices are registered with the SEC under a separate CRN from their parent company. Branch GIS contents were not observed on the eSEARCH login-hub HTML.
• Regional offices matter. For companies incorporated in provinces (e.g., Cebu, Davao), the original paper records may be at a regional SEC office rather than the Manila main office. Document requests can take longer.
• PHP exchange rates shift. The peso has fluctuated between PHP 55 and PHP 60 per USD over the 2023-2026 period. Build a buffer into any cost estimate.

Alternatives if you cannot access the registry directly

• OpenCorporates: indexes some Philippines company data but coverage is partial and lags official filings. Useful for a quick name check; not for compliance-grade verification.
• Direct engagement with SEC: for bulk data needs, the SEC Information Technology Division handles institutional data licensing. Contact via the SEC main office in Mandaluyong City.

Local data suppliers

If you need a packaged report rather than a raw SEC or DTI extract, the Philippines has a small set of established providers:

• CIBI Information Inc. (cibi.com.ph). Philippines’ first and longest-standing credit bureau, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and SOC 2 Type II certified. Offers Business Intelligence Solutions covering company profiles, credit assessments, and background screening. CIBI draws on credit, trade, and regulatory data sources beyond the SEC registry. Use when you need payment behavior or credit risk layered on top of the official filing extract.

• TransUnion Philippines (transunion.com). TransUnion operates a credit bureau in the Philippines, covering both individual and commercial credit data. Their commercial credit reports cover incorporated businesses and can include financial statement data and payment history. Useful for supplier or counterparty credit screening alongside SEC verification.

Use the SEC eSEARCH portal for the authoritative filing record and GIS. Use a credit bureau when you need payment behavior, litigation history, or credit risk scoring layered on top of the filing extract. Both layers together constitute a compliance-grade Philippines CDD file.

FAQ

Can a foreign company search the Philippines SEC registry?

Live eSEARCH at https://esearch.sec.gov.ph/ is HTTP 200 as a login hub, not a no-account search. accountRequired is Yes. A registered eFAST account is required for certified copies such as the Articles of Incorporation or General Information Sheet. Account registration is open to anyone with an email address and does not require a Philippine identity document. Do not treat eSEARCH as a free no-account public search.

What is the General Information Sheet (GIS) and why does it matter for due diligence?

The GIS is an annual filing that all Philippine corporations must submit to the SEC. It discloses the current list of directors, officers, corporate secretary, and top 20 stockholders including their shareholding percentages. For compliance buyers, the GIS is the primary source for officer identity and ownership structure. It is the equivalent of a UK confirmation statement or Singapore annual return.

What is the difference between SEC and DTI registration in the Philippines?

The SEC registers corporations and partnerships. The DTI registers sole proprietors and the business names they trade under. A business you are researching could appear in either registry depending on its legal form. Many Philippine SMEs operate as sole proprietorships under DTI, not as SEC-registered corporations. Always check both.

Is Philippines company data reliable for AML compliance purposes?

The Philippines was removed from the FATF grey list in February 2025. SEC registry data is primary-source data from the government registry, which carries inherent authority. Annual filings (GIS, financial statements) are not always submitted on time by smaller companies. The registry shows a filing was made; it does not guarantee the filing is current or accurate. A Certificate of Good Standing from the SEC confirms filing compliance.

How do I verify that a Philippines company is currently active?

Company name or CRN search, and registration-status values, were not observed on the live eSEARCH login-hub HTML. A Certificate of Good Standing from the SEC via eFAST is described as confirmation that the entity is currently registered and has met its SEC annual reporting obligations; eFAST request UI was not observed on the eSEARCH hub HTML. This is the document most used in counterparty due diligence.

What identifier should I use to search a Philippines company?

The Company Registration Number (CRN) is the most reliable identifier for an SEC-registered entity. Partial name search on eSEARCH to retrieve a CRN was not observed on the login-hub HTML. For DTI-registered businesses, the DTI Certificate Number or the exact business name is the statutory identifier.

Does the Philippines have a beneficial ownership registry?

As of this check, the Philippines does not maintain a centralized public beneficial ownership registry that was live-cited on eSEARCH or BNRS. Do not invent UBO fields from those pages. UBO disclosures for corporations are described in GIS filings (top 20 stockholders), but nominee structures and multi-layer ownership are not systematically disclosed. Compliance buyers requiring full UBO traces should combine the SEC GIS with SEC-issued beneficial ownership declarations where applicable, and may need supplementary enhanced due diligence for high-risk counterparties.

Last verified: 2026-09-02. Source: SEC eSEARCH (esearch.sec.gov.ph HTTP 200 login hub); sec.gov.ph Cloudflare 403; DTI BNRS (bnrs.dti.gov.ph HTTP 200). PHP fees were not on those live pages. For the full global due diligence framework, see the Global Business Due Diligence Guide.