Business and industry leaders gathered at the 39th Philippine Business Conference held yesterday to discuss economic reforms needed to bolster its pursuit for inclusive growth and improve the country’s competitiveness in the light of the upcoming Asean integration.
The Philippine Business Conference is organized every year by the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, the country’s largest business grouping.
Among the initiatives prescribed were those for micro, small, and medium enterprise (mSME) development. These include improving access to financing for mSMEs and agricultural small holders by encouraging the Development Bank of the Philippines and the LandBank to actively and creatively carry out their mandate of development especially in the country.
The PCCI also endorsed the outsourcing by the Department of Trade and Industry of the process of renewing business name registration to local chambers of commerce and industry who will co-manage the Philippine Business Registry.
Other concerns taken up were lack of infrastructure, smuggling, corruption, bureaucratic red tape, and high cost of power.
The business leaders pushed for stronger initiatives across sectors from agricultural modernization to establishing an energy reserves market.
Recommendations to improve competitiveness include: simplified and standardized business licensing/permitting at government agencies; the rolling out of sectoral road maps aligned with the Asean integration; creating a public-private council to oversee the Philippines’ participation in the Asean economic community; “multicultural workplace” training for the labor sector; updated labor regulations; and matching education curricula with industry needs.
In terms of energy development, the PCCI pushed for the proclamation of power projects as major national strategy programs. It also asked the Department of Energy to mandate and oversee “a regular international power generation supply bidding” to level the playing field among the 109 small utilities serving millions of consumers.
PCCI also asked the DOE to ensure reliable, adequate and reasonably priced power supply in Mindanao.
The conference pushed for the enactment into law of the following legislative measures, among others: Freedom of Access to Information, Anti-Smuggling, Anti-Trust/Competition Act, Collective Investments Schemes, Fiscal Incentives Act, Convergence Act, and Customs Modernization and Tariff Act.