Trade chief touts BOI’s P344B investment leads as promising

By Andrea San Juan

Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual

(BOI) looks promising and may al-

low the agency to meet its targets before mid-year.

So far, the agency still has potential investment leads of around P344 billion that will still be processed and, more likely than ever, we may have 80 percent to 90 percent of the target even before the middle of the year,” Pascual, who also chairs the BOI, was quoted in a statement issued by his office last Saturday.

Pascual attributed the increase in investments to the government’s “promotional visits” abroad led by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.

T he BOI said it has recently approved P414.3-billion worth of investments for January 2023 alone, “surging” by 142.9 percent compared to the same period in 2022 when it recorded P170.5 billion.

T his investment approval figure provided by BOI is equivalent to more than 40 percent of its P1-trillion investment approvals target for 2023.

O f the P414.3 billion, the investment promotion agency said

P163 billion are from foreign investment approvals, while the P251.3 billion are from domestic investment nods.

A s for the source of investments from January to February 9, 2023, the BOI said the “bulk” of foreign capital is from Germany with P157 billion. This is followed by Netherlands with P2.7 billion, Japan with P524 million, the United States with P509 million and the United Kingdom with P194 million.

I n terms of sector, the attached agency of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said the renewable energy (RE) or power sector remains “dominant” with P398.7 billion in approvals. This is followed by: manufacturing with

P12.3 billion; administrative services with P1.3 billion; agriculture with P901 million; and, transportation with P847 million.

W ith this, the Trade chief expressed optimism that, at this rate, the BOI will hit its investment approvals target for the year.

“ With investment prospects being very positive, and as we continue to receive serious interest from global investors, we are definitely on track to meeting our annual investment target of P1 trillion,” Pascual said.

“ We are not even through the second month of the year and we already have secured nearly half of our full-year target for investment approvals,” he added.

I n 2022, the BOI recorded P729 billion of investment approvals, an increase of 11 percent compared to the P655 billion recorded in 2021.

L ast year, the BOI said growth drivers of investments were RE, with 56-percent share in the total investments recorded. This was followed by information and communication, particularly in data centers and telecommunications towers, with 28 percent.

A s to the source of investments in 2022, the BOI said 57 percent came from Singapore, 22 percent from Japan, 7 percent from the United Kingdom, 3 percent from the United States, 2 percent from Virgin Islands and 2 percent from South Korea.

More than 3k units of vape goods sold by errant vendors

THE Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it has sealed 3,318 units of vape products worth P863,240 from eight “non-conforming” vape shops in Manila.

In a statement issued last Saturday, the DTI said personnel of its Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau (FTEB) inspected 11 vape shops selling vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products and novel tobacco products to ensure their compliance with the requirements of Republic Act 11900 (An Act Regulating the Importation, Manufacture, Sale, Packaging, Distribution, Use and Communication of Vaporized Nicotine and Non-Nicotine Products and Novel Tobacco Products) and its implementing rules and regulations (IRR).

F TEB head Assistant Secretary for DTI-Consumer Protection Group (CPG) Ann Claire C. Cabochan said that of the 11 inspected, eight non- conforming shops were issued a Notice of Violation (NOV), requiring each of them to submit a written explanation within 48 hours from receipt thereof.

According to the DTI-FTEB, the inspection resulted in the sealing of 3,318 units worth P863,240.

The DTI’s enforcement arm said among the rules that were violated by the vape shops are: Rule V, Section 6 which requires posting of the minimum age requirement around the establishment.

Rule V, Section 6 of the Department Administrative Order (DAO) 22-16 or implementing rules and regulations of RA 11900 provides that “point-of-sale establishments offering, selling, or distributing vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products shall post the following statement in a clear and conspicuous manner: ‘The sale or distribution of vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products to or by persons below 18 years of age is illegal. These products are harmful and contain nicotine which is a highly addictive substance. It is not recommended for use by nonsmokers.’”

Another rule violated was Rule VI, Section 1, which prohibits selling vapor products with fruit flavors and/or packaging that uses cartoon characters.

Meanwhile, Rule VI, Section 1a states: “These shall not be targeted to or particularly appeal to persons under 18 years of age. Markings or characters that are likely to appeal to the youth such as the use of cartoons, anime, manga, animated characters, youth influencers, personalities, and the like are prohibited.”

RA 11900 lapsed into law on July 25, 2022. The IRR was issued on December 5, 2022, published in two newspapers on December 13, 2022, and took effect on December 28, 2022, 15 days after publication.

“To protect the interests, facilitate the safety, and improve the quality of life of every Filipino consumer, the DTI through its hard working enforcement unit is always ready and equipped to enforce newly enacted laws, including RA 11900, and their implementing rules,” Cabochan was quoted in the statement as saying.

“Of course, we look forward to working closely with other government agencies in undertaking the immense responsibility to regulate vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products, and novel tobacco products,” she added.

The Trade department, as mandated by Rule XIII of the IRR, upon due process, may order the “immediate recall, ban or seizure from public sale or distribution of vaporized nicotine and non-nicotine products, HTP [heated tobacco product] devices, vapor product devices, and novel tobacco products for failure to comply with the provisions of RA 11900 and its IRR.”

DTI: Access to BNPCs assured amid global spikes

DT I said the monitored firms carried an average of 71 stock keeping units (SKUs), 15 of which were priced within the SRP level while 56 were priced even lower than the SRP in the latest bulletin.

I n the middle of the rise in prices of raw and packaging materials and other costs worldwide, the Trade department allowed manufacturers of BNPCs to adjust their prices to keep their businesses running.

I n the latest SRP bulletin released February 8, DTI-CPG said

141 or 65 percent of the total SKUs maintained their prices from the August 12 SRP bulletin while 76 or 35 percent of the SKUs increased by P 0.45 to P7.

C ommodities that increased prices include canned sardines in tomato sauce, processed milk, coffee 3-in-1, original noodles, bread, detergent soap, canned meat, candles, and condiments.

According to DTI-CPG, increases in the price of food items were kept to P0.45 to P3.60.

T he agency assured the public that price adjustments were “carefully” studied and kept to a minimum to ensure that affordable goods are still available in the market.

R epublic Act No. 7581, as amended by RA 10623, or the Price Act, provides the DTI and other implementing agencies such as the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Health (DOH), among others, the mandate of ensuring the availability of BNPCs at reasonable prices at all times without denying legitimate businesses a “fair return on investment.” continued from a1

I n a televised interview on the same day the SRP bulletin was released, DTI-CPG Undersecretary Ruth B. Castelo divulged that the Trade chief opted to grant the price adjustments of manufacturers because they were already in the “danger zone”. Castelo, however, said they tempered the price increases in the most recent price bulletin. (Related story: https://businessmirror.com. ph/2023/02/09/dti-greenlightshike-in-srpfor-bread-cannedproducts/) Andrea E. San Juan

Equity cap still hobbling PHL investment drive, says solon

A sked on whether the House would continue with its series of nationwide hearings and public consultations on pending bills seeking constitutional reforms either through Con-Con or Con-Ass, Villafuerte replied: “Of course, definitely. The problem in our country is basically poverty. We need to create jobs, and in order to create jobs we need foreign investments, foreign capital.”

V illafuerte said the House is “targeting to have more marathon hearings, and possibly, decide on this issue by April…so the Senate will be able to decide on this matter before the year is over … and maybe we can have a plebiscite by the first quarter of next year.”

“Now, if we can’t have a plebiscite to approve the would-be proposed constitutional amendments by the first quarter next year, I think we have to wait another five years, which means the next President, to keep Charter Change rolling. That’s the sad reality,” he said.

Best time is now VILLAFUERTE said the best time for Charter Change to happen is right now at the start of the Marcos presidency when such an initiative wouldn’t raise doubts about a possible hidden agenda to extend terms of incumbent elective officials.

“If you will look at it, a main source of poverty in the Philippines is our low agricultural output. There’s a lot of lands in the country that are idle. We need foreign capital and foreign technology (to harness such idle lands,” said Villafuerte, who authored one of the measures (House Bill or HB 4926) aiming to introduce constitutional amendments via the Con-Con route.

So in order to have more foreign capital flowing into the country, we should allow ownership as part of the menu for investors,” he said.

For Villafuerte, the incessant challenge of price spikes in foodstuff and other farm goods is rooted in a structural problem. “The purpose of agrarian reform was really to help our farmers. We supported that but, let’s admit ...that it was a failure in the sense that when we gave lands to our farmers, there was no capital available for them to make their farms truly productive.”

“ The result was low agricultural output. So, what’s the solution? We need foreign technology, we need foreign capital. And if you will look at all the countries that have really progressed, these are those that have allowed foreign ownership.

If you’re a foreigner who wants to invest in agriculture and other sectors, the basic thing here is you want ownership,” he said.

A sked whether constitutional change is really necessary, given that the 18th Congress wrote in the past Administration a trio of liberalization laws to attract foreign investors, Villafuerte noted that he was among the authors of these three laws, “but basically, it all boils down to the ownership structure. Basic sectors in our country limits foreign ownership to up to 40 percent … of public utilities, media, education, natural resources development, among others.”

T he three laws mentioned are Republic Act (RA) 11647, RA 11595 and RA 11659 that reformed, respectively, these laws on foreign investments, retail trade and public services.

Because of the 60-40 ownership cap in the Constitution—60 percent of businesses for locals and only 40% for foreigners—these three new laws stopped short of allowing foreign capitalists to take full control of domestic businesses, Villafuerte said.

“We already made the changes in these three laws, but there remains the constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership that we need to address through Charter Change,” he said.

If an investor wants to manufacture a certain product, for instance, one basic point is that this person would want land ownership, Villafuerte said. He noted that two factors that continued from a12 dampen investor appetite in the Philippines are high electricity rates and slow Internet speeds.

He explained that only the entry of greater foreign investments in the resources-intensive energy sector, for example, will lead to better and cheaper power services for consumers, “but 100-percent foreign ownership is not allowed in the power generation or development business.”

We need ports, we need airports, we need telecommunications infrastructure. So why don’t we allow greater foreign capital and technology into these sectors that are crucial to rapid and sustainable growth and development?” he stressed. “Other countries are doing that…first world economies are allowing foreign ownership.”

R ight now, he said, foreigners are going around the 60-40 ownership cap by marrying Filipino nationals so they can buy land and put up businesses there that can own or control 100 percent.

E arlier, Villafuerte said he expected strong support for the ConCon proposal because of its timing, its focus on economic provisions of the Charter, and his proposal to prohibit would-be Con-Con delegates from running in the immediate elections following the ratification via a plebiscite of the proposed amendments.