Monday, September 29, 2008 ‘Study local, nat’l laws’
THE Confederation of Philippine Exporters (Philexport) Inc.-Cebu supports the resolution of the League of Provinces of the Philippines that urges President Arroyo and Congress to remove “bottlenecks” in doing business in the country.
Philexport-Cebu advocacy and information officer Jun Abines said this is also one of the Philexport’s advocacies.
However, Philexport-Cebu asked the league to include in its resolution a plea to make a study of existing laws that discourage businessmen from investing in the country, as well as a list of suggestions on how to eliminate these laws without compromising the authority vested on concerned government agencies.
Abines said the laws involving the Board of Investments, export processing zones, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the local government, among others, should be reviewed. The contradicting provisions of these laws should be reconciled to pave the way for an efficient business processing system for investors, he added.
This appeal was echoed in the league’s resolution that raises the “need to build a simplified national business registration system and a need to harmonize business regulations in the country to provide a competitive edge in business globally.”
The League of Provinces expressed concern for the survey made by the World Bank and International Finance Corp., which saw the country’s ranking slipping from 136 to 140 in the list of 181 economies that have favorable business environments.
“The cause of the drop in the ease of doing business survey is due to conflicting laws and regulations on bureaucratic requirements, which hinder or discourage investors in the country,” said the resolution, unanimously adopted by the league last Sept. 12 at Marco Polo Plaza Hotel, Cebu City.
Apart from the laws, Philexport-Cebu believes that the country’s low ranking was caused by lack of confidence of investors in the country’s judicial system, bureaucracy and corruption at the local and national level, unstable peace and order, workers that do not have the right skills and “unpredictable” minimum wage standards.
Abines noted that if it would take a sari-sari store more than P10,000 to legally operate under all existing laws and “overlapping requirements,” big companies and investors would have to shell out much more.
He lauded other countries whose governments entrusted a centralized business processing to their business chambers.
Cebu Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CFCCCI) Filomeno Lim, for his part, said it is “high time” for an appeal such as that made by the League of Provinces.
“We should make our policies attractive in order for investments to come in, for money to come in, for more employment opportunities, for improvement of lives of families and for everyone to be happy,” he said. (NRC)
