Agriculture is one of the areas that haven’t improved despite huge potential in terms of employment and generation of state revenues, officials of foreign business chambers in the Philippines said. — AFP

The last check on reforms in the current administration — contained in the Fifth Arangkada Anniversary Assessment presented yesterday by the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFC) at the Manila Marriott Hotel in Pasay City — showed 333 out of 462 JFC recommendations — or about 74.5% — either completed, showed “substantial progress” or started, and 114 others — or 25.5% — either regressing or “not ongoing.”

Of the total, moreover, 76 recommendations — or 17% — had upgraded progress ratings and 327 others (73.15%) were “steady”, while 44 others (9.84%) actually declined.

Compared to the preceding year, changes were “statistically insignificant,” said John D. Forbes, senior adviser of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

Despite this overall view, neglect by the current and past administrations of mining and agriculture has been a recurring issue raised during the annual Arangkada Forum.

“The biggest failure in my view… I don’t see much progress in agriculture and mining,” said Julian Payne, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.

“These are two areas where there has not been great progress in improving things and where there’s a huge potential in terms of employment and generation of state revenues,” he said in an interview on the forum’s sidelines.

Mr. Forbes said there was success in the business process outsourcing sector, although not entirely due to the administration or maybe because it stayed out of it.

“The other extreme is mining, which was closed down by an executive order in July 2012 and which as several of our speakers said today is ignoring a potential source of revenue and jobs in the Philippines,” Mr. Forbes said.

“Other countries exploit mining in a responsible way; why can’t the Philippines?”

Based on its annual assessment, JFC said its 18 recommendations on agribusiness remain “active” under the current administration. It classified 17 of these as having been “started”, with only one dropped. In the five years that the JFC has been assessing these, none has graduated to “completed” status.

“Also in the other extreme and you’ve seen that in a lot of the discussions… is the agriculture sector and the weakness of agribusiness in the Philippines in comparison to competing regional countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam,” he said.

Agribusiness is among the seven “winner sectors” identified by JFC when it started the annual assessment in 2010, the same year that President Benigno S. C. Aquino III was sworn into office.

The other sectors that showed great growth potential are business process outsourcing, creative industries, infrastructure, manufacturing, logistics, mining and tourism.

“Certainly [the Aquino administration] succeeded in terms of initiating a fight against corruption and thus we saw business confidence on that issue,” Mr. Payne said, but admitted: “It’s a long way to go.”

He also said that there was no question that the administration was “outstanding in its fiscal and monetary management”.

Mr. Payne also cited the K-to-12 program that seeks to align the country’s education system with those of its peers and more developed counterparts by stretching elementary and secondary schooling to 12 years, and which he described as a “major social and human resource step forward.” “It’s going to take some time to yield but it’s definitely one of the initiatives that will have profound implications on the country,” Mr. Payne said.

Throughout yesterday’s forum, representatives of various business chambers repeatedly cited continued restrictions on foreign investments as hindering the entry of new capital.

“That will have a huge impact on the economy in terms of funding investments in many sectors,” Mr. Payne said, describing this as his number one recommendation for the next president who will assume office on June 30. “It [next administration] also has to reduce taxes. As an economist, I believe that if you reduce tax rates, you may end up collecting more tax revenues because you are stimulating business.”

For the next leader, Mr. Forbes said he would recommend greater support for the creative industries, which he said presents a huge potential but remains “disorganized.”

And while the country under the current government has attracted more foreign direct investments (FDI) than its predecessors, inflows still pale in comparison to those of its Southeast Asian peers. In its assessment, JFC noted that the $6.2 billion worth of net FDI that flowed into the country in 2014 was still just 5% of such inflows to Southeast Asia, “showing the Philippines is not the first choice for most investors.” The report said the figure was “insufficient considering the persistent high levels of unemployment, underemployment and poverty in the country.”

Representatives of four presidential candidates presented their platforms of government to forum participants.

Margarito B. Teves, former Finance secretary and Vice-President Jejomar C. Binay’s representative, said — among others — that the latter’s administration would set aside a bigger budget for agriculture, lift foreign ownership restrictions in the Constitution, reform the tax system further and target a higher ratio of state infrastructure spending to gross domestic product (GDP).

Rodrigo R. Duterte was represented by running mate Allan Peter S. Cayetano, who said that Mr. Duterte’s government will focus on improving peace and order, infrastructure, governance and ensure policy consistency.

Rexlon T. Gatchalian, Valenzuela City mayor who represented Grace Poe, said she would focus on the passage of the Freedom of Information measure, further ease doing busines, increase state infrastructure spending to 7% of GDP from the targeted 5% this year, and ensure policy consistency.

Romero S. Quimbo, Marikina City’s legislative representative, read a speech on behalf of administration standard bearer Manuel A. Roxas II. “Talks of changing the Consitution must be well considered,” he said, proposing instead a re-definition of sectors restricted to foreigners.

Sought for comment, Mr. Payne replied: “I wasn’t satisfied with the answers that the candidates gave as to addressing those issues in the foreign investment negative list that can be removed without constitutional amendment and the vast array of protectionist restrictions and regulations by the government and the regulatory agencies.” — Victor V. Saulon

Source: www.bworldonline.com