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GOVERNMENT Service Insurance System (GSIS) president and
general manager Winston Garcia has recommended the
relaxation of regulation laws to further encourage
investments particularly from foreign players.
“Personally, I think the government should have more
serious efforts to lessen the permits to operate. This
will help a lot in encouraging foreign investments to
come here,” he said in a recent interview.
But this
doesn’t mean that the requirements will be relaxed
altogether.
“If
there is a clear violation of the law, definitely, the
penalties must be imposed rigidly,” Garcia said.
Earlier,
he said the key to balancing the budget deficit is not
through the imposition of new taxes but the removal of
all government subsidies, including transport fares,
airport operations, among others.
While
his recommendation will immediately impact the
consumers, he said the government could reap its
benefits and put it in a cash-positive position.
“Everyone thought when the E-VAT was implemented the
move will hurt the poor, but on the contrary, look at
what happened? If not for the E-VAT, we would still be
importing oil at higher prices. The E-VAT demonstrated
that taxes are good for the country and is propoor,” he
said.
Garcia
said he would forward his recommendation to President
Arroyo.
GSIS is
one of the largest government-controlled pension funds.
Last
April, it announced plans to put up a stock index fund
within six months to one year. The fund’s total
portfolio could range between P15 to P20 billion
depending on the appetite of the market.
“If the
market appetite would call us to form a total portfolio
of P20 billion, then we would do that and slowly begin
buying into the market and form that basket of
securities. It would be a mirror of S&P 500,” Garcia
said.
S&P 500
is widely regarded as the best single gauge of the US
equities market. It includes 500 leading companies in
leading industries of the US economy. Although the S&P
500 focuses on the large cap segment of the market, it
is also an ideal proxy for the total market.
Garcia
said the plan initially is to create a proportionate
portfolio with attractive stocks and put them in one
basket and sell to the public. The index fund would be
tracked by the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange
Index.
The
fund, he added, will be professionally managed and
listed at the stock exchange.
GSIS
made P9.8 billion in net trading gains three months ago
via the sale of blue chip stocks, including 199.35
million shares of San Miguel through a block sale. From
the sale of San Miguel shares alone, the pension fund
realized P5.7 billion in net trading gains.
The
shares, representing six percent of the total
outstanding capital of the food and beverage giant, were
sold for P14 billion or at P71.50 per share. GSIS held
the San Miguel shares for more than a decade before the
sale.
Garcia
said GSIS does not intend to slow down from its selling
activities soon.
“At the
end of the year, we are looking at realizing a total of
P15 billion in trading gains from the stock market.
Everything is subject to sale if the price is right,” he
said.
GSIS
also owns a stake in Manila Electric Co. |
