Elaine Joy S.

Mateo
BSA-3B
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Increase competitiveness and the ease of doing business. This effort will draw upon successful

models used to attract business to local cities (e.g., Davao) and pursue the relaxation of the

Constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership, except as regards land ownership, in order to

attract foreign direct investment.

In 2016, the MAP or the Management Association of the Philippines focused on helping improve

the ease of doing business in order to contribute in attracting local and foreign investments, making

more employments and ensuring economic growth. The MAP will continue such reforms and policies

that are for capitalizing on disruptive technologies and enabling business environment, particularly in

advocating for practical business solutions to deal with the challenges our country faces. They will also

work with its members and will partner with other business organizations, the government and civil

society in conducting programs that promote good governance, global competitiveness and sustainable

development to raise the lives of the Filipinos.

World Bank Group Trade and Competitiveness Operations officer, Roberto Galang, told in an

interview that Dutertes administration is good for the country because he was an LGU himself. Doing

business in Davao is relatively fast. Duterte already made pronouncements that he wants government

permits to be approved or deemed approved within three days. Being a former mayor of Davao, he

understands the LGU side. Doing business processes like construction permit and tax payments have an

LGU component. Since Duterte was a former mayor, other mayors in the country will listen to him

more. Based on last years outcome, the country ranked 103rd out of 189 economies in the Doing

Business report. The country aims to be on the top third or at the least number 63 of the rankings this

year. Members of the countrys inter-agency Ease of Doing Business Task Force convened to identify
priority areas in government regulatory procedures for businesses which need further upgrades to help

improve the countrys competitiveness.

These priority areas are trading across borders, protecting minority investors, enforcing

contracts, registering property, starting a business, and paying taxes. Galang also said that it is only in

the Philippines that businesses renew their business permits every year, while in other countries, they

have it for a lifetime. Also, it is a burden for SMEs to make tax payments every month. It should be done

once a year and they should go to BIR just once a year. So these are the issues that doing businesses here

are not easy.

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Accelerate annual infrastructure spending to account for 5% of GDP, with Public-Private

Partnerships playing a key role.

In the public sectors defense, 12 major infrastructures were approved in 2014. The National

Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) enumerated some of the infrastructure projects which

include the first phase of the operation and maintenance of airports in Iloilo, Davao, Bacolod, and Puerto

Princesa. NEDA also gave the go signal to the modernization of the Davao Sasa Port project, the

Regional Prison Facilities through PPP, and a change in contract of the much-awaited Laguna Lakeshore

Expressway Dike Project, also under the PPP.

Also in relation to infrastructure growth, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez spoke about how

contracts will be respected, good governance will be delivered, and corporate taxes will be lowered.

These plans promise the masses an improvement of infrastructure management to be headed by multi-

sectoral agencies and the public sector.

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Promote rural and value chain development toward increasing agricultural and rural

enterprise productivity and rural tourism.

Based on the pronouncements of President Duterte and his Cabinet, there will be an aggressive

movement for economic activities in our rural areas, especially focusing on calamity-stricken

communities. The administration will be able to target the marginalize more to achieve and feel the

economic growth. This agenda of Duterte opens many opportunities for new investments in new

businesses in these rural areas, which have traditionally relied on agriculture, fishery, furniture and

handicraft for their livelihood.

The Department of Trade and Industry believes that there are a lot of opportunities in these rural

areas, especially in agriculture. The plan is not just develop the production side but also strengthen the

processing of high value added products, including coconut oil and coffee. It is believed that the agro-

business and manufacturing industries will also be open for other industries such as logistics, trucking

and freight services, design-based industries and utilities. The development of these industries will be

good for the growth of residential, commercial and industrial projects, and increase the demand for

consumer goods. Increase in demand will provide more jobs such as businesses for retail, dining and

entertainment establishments or malls for the province and surrounding communities. Other industries

like shipbuilding and mineral ore processing will also boost the demand. The DTI also wanted the large

companies to engage the poor and low income earners to be partners, customers, suppliers or employees

in their operations, not for charity but for good business sense. It will help the MSMEs (micro, small and

medium-sized enterprise) to supply a particular product for large companies.

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Invest in human capital development, including health and education systems, and match skills

and training to meet the demand of businesses and the private sector.

Recent reports by the World Bank, International Labor Organization, and Department of Labor

and Employment (DOLE) have shown that job mismatch has severely affected the economys growth.

Job mismatch or underemployment means that the job you are currently working on is not the job you

should have. An example of this is a teacher working as a nanny in abroad. So in order to lessen this

problem, the past Aquino administration developed the K-12 educational system. It aims to create a

more globally competitive workforce, as well as to equip high school graduates with the necessary skills

for the modern day workplace.

Meanwhile, Pulse Asias most recent survey on Most Urgent Personal Concerns has identified

both education and health among the primary concerns of Filipinos. Chronic malnutrition rates in April

were the highest it has been in the last ten years.

In 2010, the Aquino administration had set out to provide universal health care to all Filipinos.

New Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell Ubial has vowed to focus on completing the program to

ensure it covers every Filipino, most especially the poor. She also plans on strengthening efforts to

provide health services to those situated in remote areas.

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Improve social protection programs, including the governments Conditional Cash Transfer

program, to protect the poor against instability and economic shocks.

According to the National Statistical Coordination Board, the Philippines fell below the poverty
line at a rate of 25.8 percent of the population in the first semester of 2014. This year, the government is

very determined to decrease the poverty incidence from 25 percent to 18 percent. Dutertes

administration has the economic agenda of improving social protection programs, such as strengthening

the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program to protect the poor from economic shocks and instability.

The CCT program is also known as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), is the anti-poverty

program of the administration. The government selects the poorest of the poor through a proxy-means

test. Nutrition, healthcare, and education are being supplied to children of 0-18 years old. The program

has the same objectives of providing social assistance and bringing forth social development.

The 4Ps social assistance objective is done through giving monetary support to many poor

families as immediate response to their needs whiles the social development objective is done through

breaking the intergenerational poverty cycle, such as health check-ups for the maternity and for children

who are 0-5 years old, and children who are in daycare, elementary, and secondary schools. As a means

of eradicating poverty, the 4Ps is set to be improved as it is part of one of the administrations 10-point

economic agenda.