THE Board of Investments (BOI) vowed to address the concern of foreign business chambers that the 2008 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP) is not specific enough to be really effective in the guidelines that the agency is currently finalizing.

Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Elmer Hernandez said the new IPP that the Cabinet recently approved is just a framework and the specific details of the kind of projects that will get government incentives will be laid down in the accompanying guidelines.

The Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (FCP) recently wrote a letter to Trade Secretary Peter Favila, also the BOI chairman, saying the government failed to make the new IPP target-oriented and specific enough to be effective as an investment promotions tool.

“Assuming that it [2008 IPP] is too broad, it is the guidelines that will now focus it,” Hernandez told the BusinessMirror.

Hernandez also said even if the foreign chambers were not included in the crafting of the new IPP as they demanded, the BOI made sure that their recommendations in previous position papers were considered.

One of the FCP suggestions that the BOI adopted is the inclusion of the “strategic investments” heading in the list of activities that will qualify for full government incentives topped by income-tax holidays.

Still, in the FCP’s letter to Favila, the group said the new IPP “should be target-oriented, highlighting the specific sectors the government wishes to be developed by providing investment incentives.”

For instance, in the agriculture and agribusiness heading, the FCP said emphasis should have been given on the development of agro-industrial estates to bring together the farming community and the food processors.

In infrastructure, the emphasis should have been on sea, land and air transport, as well as energy. For tourism, the FCP said it would have appreciated if medical and retirement zones were covered.

For engineered products and strategic investments, the group said the types of projects should have been specifically identified “so investors can be guided to the strategic requirements of the country.”

The foreign chambers also wondered why the business-process outsourcing sector was not on the list considering it needs a great amount of support if the Philippines is to attain its target of capturing 10 percent of the world’s outsourcing and offshoring market by 2010.

Hernandez said the BOI will address all these in the guidelines that the agency is now rushing so it would be ready once the 2008 IPP becomes effective 15 days after its publication.

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