MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines is still much “talk” and less “walk” when it comes to addressing the country’s attractiveness as an investment destination.

It is for this reason that the Philippines continues to trail other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in foreign direct investment, Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) president Perry Pe said.

“We are so good at enticing foreign investors. We are so good at inviting them into our country and say please come to the Philippines because it is fun in the Philippines, it is so good in the Philippines. But the moment the foreign investor comes here, we’re so good at frustrating them,” Pe said.

“We’re so good at making them feel as if they are not welcome. We put up so many restrictions along the way, so many red tape that ease of doing business becomes zero. Whether it be from a Bureau of Internal Revenue perspective, from a Customs perspective and even from the Securities and Exchange Commission perspective,” he added.

Even though the country beams with a lot of opportunities for foreign businesses to thrive, Pe said existing restrictions and persistent corruption kept many of these investors from coming in.

The MAP official, however, lauded the current administration’s effort to relax constitutional restriction on foreign investments.

The business group likewise praised the National Competitiveness Council’s initiative called Project Repeal seeking to facilitate an efficient government regulatory environment by removing outdated, redundant and burdensome rules and regulations negatively affecting businesses in the country.

“In MAP, we’re supporting other business groups in trying to call for this current administration to repeal and take out all those economic provisions, whether it be on the federal system of government or whether it be just in pure constitutional amendment,” Pe said.

Source: http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/11/28/1648235/philippines-good-frustrating-foreign-investors-map