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MANILA, Philippines – Foreign businessmen are urging the Aquino administration to report where the Philippines is headed during the President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.
At the same time, the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) reported that out of the 471 recommendations enumerated in the group’s publication called Arangkada Philippines they were able to come up with 283 reforms. However out of the 283 reforms, the government was only able to complete 13. This means that during the seven months since the December launch of Arangkada, the action rate was only 4.6 percent.
During yesterday’s press conference of the JFC, John Forbes of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines and the chief author of Arangkada said that their biggest disappointment has been slow inflow of foreign direct investments (FDI). Forbes said investments even in the business process outsourcing (BPO) do not come in fast enough because the perception of the Philippines remains the same.
Forbes said that if the economy grows twice as fast then the Philippines can catch up because the growth of our neighbors did not slow down. He said the Philippines can triple the inflow of foreign direct investments if all the reforms can be executed.
Likewise, he said that another disappointment is the mining industry. According to Forbes, the mining industry hasn’t taken off in spite of the legislation because of the difference in opinion of the national government and the local government units (LGUs).
For his part, Julian Payne, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines said that some branches of the judiciary issue temporary restraining orders (TRO) as part of business harassment. Likewise, he said there is a delay in getting issues through the courts.
Payne said that the frequent reconsiderations in the decisions of the courts brings uncertainty to the business environment.
Henry Schumacher from the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP) said that the decision of the Supreme Court ordering the government to review foreign ownership in PLDT has an impact on foreign businessmen.
“The decision of the Supreme Court to investigate PLDT is not making it any easier,” Schumacher said.
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By: Ma. Elisa P. Osorio
Source: The Philippine Star, July 21, 2011
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