MANILA, Philippines – The government only managed to start implementing about 55 percent of the 471 policy recommendations that the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) forwarded to Malacañang a year ago to spur economic development and boost investment inflows.
“It means that we are going forward but not fast enough,” John Forbes, senior adviser of the American Chamber of Commerce, told the BusinessMirror.
Earlier, the JFC said investors were beginning to take notice of the Aquino administration’s policy reforms and predicted that if all the recommended changes were followed, the country could attract as much as $75 billion in foreign direct investments.
In December 2010, the JFC submitted to Malacañang the “Arangkada 2010 Moving Twice as Fast” document containing policy recommendations and reforms that will catalyze the growth of the “Seven Big Winner Sectors.” These are agribusiness, business-process outsourcing (BPO), creative industries, logistics, manufacturing, mining, and tourism, medical travel and retirement.
The evaluators used the following ratings: one star for “no longer relevant,” two stars for “backward/regression,” three stars for “not ongoing,” four stars for “started,” five stars for “substantial progress,” and six stars for “completed.”
The overall ratings showed that 55 percent of the 471 recommendations received 3.5 stars and above, while 45 percent got 3 stars and below.
For instance, in the JFC recommendation that the government support clear long-term industry policy in increase GDP growth rate to 9 percent, the evaluators gave a two-star rating or backward/regression.
On the recommendation to pass the Cybercrime Prevention and Data Privacy Acts and the creation of interim solutions to address the primary concerns of industry stakeholders, the government only received a one-star rating.
The Aquino administration also got one-star ratings for the recommendations to strengthen the “Pro-Performance Team,” credit enhancement to support project financing and power supply agreements of new generating projects, modernization of the Port of Batangas, and review of the need to impose travel tax, among others.
The government, however, managed to earn the highest six-star rating for the identification of champions in Congress that will sponsor bills and work for the passage of BPO-related laws, creation of reasonable timetables to address the registration period of BOT (build-operate-transfer) projects, expansion of mobile phone services in remote areas, organization of meetings to improve services at Batangas Port, and allowing firms to that provide same-day services to overseas clients to substitute days off with pay without holiday premiums.
John Payne, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said that among the notable failures of the administration was the slow passage of various critical pieces of legislation, progress in judicial reforms, and problematic mining situation.
But Payne said they are hoping that the government would achieve 65-percent implementation ratings by this year.
Henry Schumacher, external vice president of the European Chamber of Commerce, said a 55-percent implementation rating is not yet enough to provide the investors a high level of confidence.
“The 55 percent means the implementation of the recommendations has started. However, the level of confidence is still tied to consistency in government policies,” Schumacher said.
He said the JFC will continue to monitor the government’s implementation of their recommendations and issue criticisms for those that are not moving.
Forbes said the JFC recommendations are important because right now, the foreign investors “are passing us by.”
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By: Max V. de Leon
Source: Business Mirror, Jan. 26, 2012
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