Businessmen yesterday urged government to harmonize inconsistent investment policies and to honor contracts even from previous administrations to keep and attract more investors in the country.
Alfredo Yao, President of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told reporters after his welcome address at yesterday’s opening of the 40th Philippine Business Conference (PBC) at the Manila Hotel.
Yao said the harmonization of investment policies will form part of the 40th PBC Resolutions to be submitted to President Aquino at the closing on Friday of the three-day PBC, the country’s largest annual business gathering organized by the PCCI.
“The PBC never lets go of its advocacies for weeding out inconveniencies and inconsistencies in government rules that turn off foreign direct investors, “Yao said in his welcome address.
“Regardless of what administration, whether that is GMA (former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) or others we should honor contracts,” Yao later told reporters.
One of the contracts the Aquino administration refused to honor is the SM Land Inc. contract for the development of a Fort Bonifacio property that is a now a subject of a court battle because the current Bases Conversion Development Authority refused to honor the contract forged during the previous BCDA administration.
“Once they signed the contract they have to honor that otherwise we will be ruined. If we made mistakes then we have to make amends so we could stop going back and forth,” Yao said.
Yao also noted of some inconsistencies in policies between the local government units and the national government.
For instance, he said, the national government has an investment law, but the local government units are doing another thing making it difficult for national investment promotion agencies like the Board of Investments to justify their campaigns before foreign investors.
“They have to harmonize these policies. There are LGUs that are not friendly to investors,” he said.
“If they applied and are approved then give what is due them. But if that investor violates the contract then don’t proceed and a cancellation of the contract is justifiable,” he added.
“Yao also lamented unsynchronized policies of agencies in the treatment of tax incentives.
“He said that investors are asked to go the Board of Investments and are given tax perks, but the Department of Finance is opposed to such granting of tax incentive.
“”If there is a loophole, we have to plug that,” he said.
To avoid unnecessary inconsistencies, Yao has asked government to thoroughly study any incentive scheme and investment policies before their implementation
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