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THE
Board of Investments (BOI) will be doing away with the
controversial consultation process with the Department
of Finance (DOF) on the grant of incentives to new
projects as the agency revives its one-day approval
scheme initially for micro and small enterprises based
on a memorandum issued by Malacañang.
Trade
Undersecretary and BOI managing head Elmer Hernandez
told the BusinessMirror that Memorandum Order 284 gave
the BOI the authority to implement to the dot the
contents of the new specific guidelines for the 2008
Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), and this includes the
one-day approval of projects of micro and small firms.
Memorandum Order 284 states that “pursuant to Article 29
of the Omnibus Investments Code of 1987, the attached
2008 IPP is hereby approved. Further to the provision of
said article, upon the effectivity of the IPP, all
government agencies and entities are enjoined not to
adopt any policy or take any course of action contrary
to or inconsistent with the IPP.”
With
this, the BOI Board approved on Wednesday the revival of
the one-day approval program even if it would run
counter to an earlier understanding between Finance
Secretary Margarito Teves and Trade Secretary Peter
Favila that the BOI must consult the DOF first before
granting incentives to new projects.
“It is
there in the IPP, so we can’t do anything now but to
follow it,” Hernandez said.
Teves
and Favila had agreed earlier to have the DOF and the
BOI consult with each other before granting incentives
supposedly to ensure that there will be no unnecessary
leakage of revenues consistent with the administration’s
fiscal consolidation thrust.
Because
of this agreement, the BOI’s one-day approval scheme,
which was done a major come-on for investors as it
eliminates bureaucratic red tape, was scrapped to give
way to the exchange of documents and opinions between
the DOF and the BOI.
This
time, the guidelines for the 2008 IPP included the
one-day processing of application for registration to
micro and small enterprises on the list of government
assistance.
These
firms, with capitalization of not more than P15 million,
are also exempted from the payment of application and
registration, exempted from the 25-percent equity
requirement and will only pay 25 percent of the
application and registration fees.
He said
micro and small enterprises, being the backbone of the
economy and the country’s biggest employer, should be
getting all the assistance they can get from the
government. “We should not make life difficult for these
enterprises. That is the whole intention of the IPP, to
give them full support,” Hernandez said.
With the
revival of the one-day approval scheme, Hernandez said
the heads of the regional offices of the BOI and the DTI
cannot process and approve applications for registration
on their own in a single day. This one-day approval can
also be done during BOI road shows in the provinces.
Hernandez said the approvals done by the regional heads
will be forwarded to the BOI head office in Makati every
month for ratification by the board. |
