THE country’s largest local and foreign business groups on Tuesday recommended a mixed bag of “crucial” reforms for President Aquino to work on in his remaining months in office.
These range from improvement of business climate to resolution of good governance problems.
In a letter addressed to Aquino and made available to the media, Philippine Business Groups-Joint Foreign Chambers (PBG-JFC) bared a list of wide-ranging reforms that the 18 business groups deemed crucial to fulfill the current administration’s thrust of inclusive growth in its last year.
Topping the list is the appointment of government officials to posts that have been left vacant for several months and which the Aquino administration appears not in a hurry to fill.
These include posts in the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Energy and the National Police.
Other recommendations of the business groups include the creation of a public-private energy council to formulate an energy security and price competitiveness road map, the establishment of a National Privacy Commission, creation of agricultural trading centers, easing the process of establishing a business for the benefit of small and medium enterprises and revision of the foreign investment negative list to allow for more foreign participation in particular sectors.
Infrastructure improvement also made the business community’s priority list.
Notably, the among the reforms listed by the groups include suggestions of a political nature, such as speeding up the resolution of the Maguindanao massacre trial, and plunder cases against senators allegedly involved in the pork-barrel scam uncovered in 2013.
As a complement to the suggested policy directions, the PBG-JFC pushed for the immediate enactment of the following proposed legislations: Freedom of Information Act, Amendments to the Economic Provisions of the 1987 Constitution (Resolution of Both Houses 1), Private-Public Projects Act (Build-Operate-Transfer Law Amendments) and Amendments to the Right-of-Way Act (Republic Act 8974), Fair Competition Act, An Act creating the Department of Information and Communications Technology, Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and the Comprehensive Tax System Reform.
“The PBG-JFC holds that the Philippines possesses immense untapped potential that will be unleashed with the proper environment and policies in place. It is our common position that the enactment and implementation of the above measures will accelerate the country toward the progressive nation we all aspire to become,” the PBG-JFC said in the letter.
The signatory organizations include the Management Association of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines, Employers Confederation of the Philippines, IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines, Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Alyansa Agrikultura, Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc., Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, American Chamber of Commerce, Australia-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce, Canadian Chamber of Commerce, European Chamber of Commerce, Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Korean Chamber of Commerce, Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Regional Headquarters.