Philippine Business Leaders Urge Ease-of-Doing-Business Reforms to Restore Public Confidence

THE Makati Business Club (MBC) said legislators need to pass reforms to make it easier to do business to help restore public confidence in the government. "What needs to be done is to bring back the confidence of the public in government,” MBC Chairman Edgar O. Chua told reporters on the sidelines of an event on Thursday. “To me, the least of our problems are the technical issues. Our bigger problem is more political,” Mr. Chua added. He also cited the need to pass the proposed Freedom of Information law, which he deems critical to attracting investors. “It’s also important to business, because in our country, it’s often difficult to confirm some information and when we invite investors to come in, many of them get surprised, they didn’t realize that there were certain things are in the law or are required,” Mr. Chua said. Other reforms that the MBC is pushing include amendments to the bank secrecy laws and a genuine anti-political dynasty law. Mr. Chua added that the outcome of the ongoing impeachment trial of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio is critical to restoring the public’s confidence in government. “It’s distracting, but still, I think it’s important that we need to go through that. Kailangan, ’yung maging outcome niyan (The needed outcome) is one that restores confidence in the country’s governance,” he said. He also cited the need to lower power costs and upgrade critical infrastructure, such as ports and airports. The MBC is also counting on the government to accelerate public spending to spur economic growth. “I hope that in these next four months, the government is able to catch up on spending, which will then pump-prime the economy,” Mr. Chua said. Public expenditure increased 7.02% to P3.764 trillion in the seven months to July. The economy grew 2.6%, much slower than the 5.4% posted a year earlier, as elevated inflation weakened household consumption while a slowdown in public construction stalled investment. Economic growth is also expected to fall below the government’s projections, Mr. Chua said. “Generally speaking, the government is more upbeat about their forecast… but (growth) could be slower,” he said. In June, the Development Budget Coordination Committee lowered its gross domestic product (GDP) growth target for 2026 to 3.5%-4.5% from 5%-6% earlier. Mr. Chua also cited the need to reconsider parts of Republic Act No. 11966 or the Public-Private Partnership Code. “Dapat ’yan, ang consideration ng government would be not kung sino ’yung magbibigay ng highest share (The government should not award projects based on who can share the most revenue). It should be who can provide that project at the lowest cost,” he added. — Beatriz Marie D. Cruz