MINDANAO businessmen are recommending that the endorsements from Department of Tourism (DOT) and Department of Agriculture (DA) for Bureau of Investments (BOI) registration be done by the regional offices of the two agencies.
In a resolution submitted to President Rodrigo Duterte, Mindanao businessmen said BOI registration for tourism and agricultural production projects require endorsement from DOT and DA, respectively.
"In recent years, while there has been a steady increase in investments in these sectors in Mindanao, investors are not able to register with BOI and avail of incentives because of the lack of endorsements from DOT and DA," the resolution states.
According to the resolution, for businessmen to get an endorsement from DOT or DA for BOI registrations they had to get it from the head office of the two agencies in Metro Manila.
"Application for DOT endorsement for BOI registration is in DOT website albeit unable to connect while its regional offices cannot give any application forms because this is supposed to be online," the resolution states.
As for DA, businessmen are finding it difficult to secure an endorsement since there is no established procedures, guidelines, and timeline for the issuance of the agency's endorsement for BOI registration.
Due to these reasons, tourism and agricultural projects, especially those of the small and medium enterprises, in Mindanao are not able to enjoy the incentives BOI has to offer.
Mindanao businessmen recommends that the endorsements of agricultural or tourism investments for BOI registration be issued by the regional offices of DA and DOT as these offices are nearer to the projects and would know the landscape where the projects operate.
The resolution is among the 20 conference resolutions Mindanao businessmen submitted to Duterte at the close of the 26th Mindanao Business Conference, which was held from September 7 to 9, at the Xavier Estates Sports and Country Club, Cagayan de Oro City.