MACO, Compostela Valley -- This town is now gearing toward becoming an investment haven following the crafting of the proposed Maco Investment and Incentive Code of 2014.
Responding to the need of wooing more foreign and domestic investors, the local government unit (LGU) of the town presented the proposed municipal ordinance entitled the Maco Investment and Incentive Code of 2014 during a public hearing last January 17 at the Maco Gym.
Maco Vice Mayor Arthur Carlos Voltaire R. Rimando said the code "should put Maco as an investment haven and regain its glory days as among the most progressive towns in the region."
During its heydays in the 80's, Maco was at the center of trade in Davao province, with its port beaming with timber for export. Large corporations such as Aguinaldo Development Corporation (Adecor) and Apex Mining Corporation sizzled the town’s economy exceeding even that of Tagum, the capital town of the then undivided province of Davao del Norte. But the decline of logging business in the following decade also started the town’s waning economic activities.
While Maco has still retained its advantages such as its strategic location and abundant natural resources, the local government felt the need of providing incentives for investors as they knew that other towns and cities are also competing for investments. Thus, the Municipal Council of Maco, led by former mayor and now Vice Mayor Rimando, drafted a comprehensive investment incentives code to position the municipality as an attractive investment destination.
The proposed Investment Incentives Code offers fiscal and non-fiscal incentives. Fiscal incentives include tax exemption on business tax and permit, as well as real property tax and building permit.
The most pertinent feature of the code is the establishment of the Maco Investment and Promotion Center, which will act as a one-stop processing center to promote and facilitate investments.
Department of Trade and Industry-Compostela Valley Province Officer-in-Charge Lucky Siegfred M. Balleque said that through the Business Permit and Licensing System Streamlining Program of DTI and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, it supports the LGU’s initiative to attract investors.
"We would now play a bigger role as DTI is also being eyed to sit in the proposed Maco Investment and Promotion Board," he said.