told to establish own investment ‘green lanes’

ASENIOR lawmaker has called on local government unit (LGU) executives to put up their own “green lanes” meant to streamline and expedite the processing of business permits in their respective localities.

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte issued the statement as President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. took another step to level up the ease of doing business (EODB) nationwide, and eventually turn the Philippines into a premier investment hub in the region.

T he President launched a project establishing business-friendly “green lanes for strategic investments” in national government (NG) offices and LGUs to simplify and speed up the processing of strategic investment inflows across the country.

“ The President’s July 13 launch of green lanes to clear the way to fast-tr ack processing of strategic investments couldn’t have come at a better time, as he has just signed the law establishing the MIF

[Maharlika Investment Fund or Republic Act 11954] as an alternative stream for investment funds amid government expectations of at least $88 million or almost P5 billion in investment inflows for the rest of this year, representing our initial windfall from the President’s 12 official trips abroad since he took office last year,” said Villafuerte.

Villafuerte noted that the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) expects, from the President’s foreign trips, an initial $88 million worth of investment leads this year in the manufacturing, renewable energy (RE) and information technology and business process management (IT-BPM) industries that would create 17,800 jobs combined.

This amount is part of the DTI-listed pipeline of an estimated $70 billion in investment pledges from the US, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Thailand, Europe and other countries that are the fruits of the government’s pro-business agenda and “the President’s relentless economic- diplomacy drive to sell the Philippines as a robust economy that has reopened fully after the pandemic and continues to reform its regulatory environment to make it a more conducive destination in our region for strategic investments,” Villafuerte said.

“Hence, our LGUs need to set up at the soonest their respective green lanes for investments not only to support Malacañang Palace’s agenda to level up our EODB image, but also for them to seize upon this splendid opportunity for their localities to cash in on this projected pipeline of $70 billion worth of FDI inflows resulting from our country’s postCovid status as one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies on the Marcos watch,” he said.

V illafuerte said that in CamSur, for example, investors are most welcome to partner with local entrepreneurs in the processing and export of high-value coconut products.

During a recent presidential visit to the province, he recalled that Marcos visited CamSur’s P230-million Sustainable

Deliver MIF’s promise, Recto reminds economic managers

By Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz @joveemarie

NOW that their pet Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) is a law, a leader of the House of Representatives on Wednesday said economic managers should prove their critics wrong, and deliver the earnings they confidently promised during the congressional debates on the measure.

Deputy Speaker Ralph Recto issued the statement following the recent signing of the law, which other lawmakers said, would be an additional vehicle for financing big-ticket infrastructure projects.

“

The next order of the day is to shut down the critics. And because they have stuck out their necks for this, their professional reputation is also on the line. This is not just business, but personal,” Recto said.

As in the case of new things, which were initially doubted, Recto said “brickbats can incentivize performance and a powerful motivation to prove the naysayers wrong.” it from political interference.

“President Marcos’ demand for MIF investment decisions and management to be predicated solely on sound financial and business practices manifests his resolve to ensure the fund is adequately safeguarded and would grow to achieve its purpose,” said Romualdez, who is one of the principal authors of the House version of the bill creating the MIF.

“It is a prudent move on the part of the President that would bolster its potential to achieve its purpose of mobilizing additional funds without the need for additional borrowings or taxes to accelerate the implementation of flagship infrastructure projects meant to sustain the country’s robust growth,” he added. Under R A 11954 or the Act Establishing the MIF, which the President signed into law Tuesday, the Secretary of Finance is merely ex officio chairperson and will not run the Fund. It will be governed by the nine-member Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) chaired by an Independent Director.

Agriculture and Fishery Enterprises (SAFE) Innovation Hub for the processing and marketing of value-added coconut products for export.

The green lanes initiative and the MIF are among the Marcos administration’s complementary measures to the reform laws on sharpening the country’s global competitiveness that were passed in the previous Congress, several of which Villafuerte had co-authored, such as the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE), and the amendatory laws to the Public Service Act (PSA), Foreign Investments Act (FIA) and the Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA).

Villafuerte said the setting up of green lanes for strategic investments puts flesh into Executive Order (EO) 18, which the President issued last February 23, in line with his administration’s commitment to simplify and automate procedures and trim bureaucratic layers to improve the EODB for investors in the country.

Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz