PHILIPPINE Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) President George T. Barcelon said the country’s local government units (LGUs) should have the “DNA” of the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) to promote inclusive growth in the country.
“You know why a lot of foreign companies come to the Philippines and they just flock to PEZA? Because the rules are clear and there’s no regulatory inconsistency. But I think our solution is for the local government to have the DNA of PEZA,” Barcelon said at the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028 forum on Monday.
The PCCI head underscored the role that the local government can play in ensuring facilitating investments throughout the country.
“If you talk about growth inclusivity for the country, the growth should be throughout the Philippines and I think the local government plays a key role in making things easy for people who want to invest in the area of their jurisdiction,” the PCCI head added.
According to the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, the ecozones will be integrated into the local economy by relaxing the requirements, facilitating free flow of parts, components and other inputs, and increasing open trade between zone locators and firms outside the zones.
Meanwhile, according to the presentation of PEZA OIC Tereso O. Panga at a recent forum, there are 24 Agro-Industrial Parks in the Philippines.
PEZA is an investment promotion agency that encourages the creation of special economic zones in the countryside, banking on these zones to become “economic drivers” in every region.
For one, Barcelon zeroed in on food security and agricultural issues. On visiting different provinces across the country, he said he is hopeful the government will look into “fortifying our crop insurance,” otherwise the banks would feel that farmers are not “bankable.”
Inspired by other countries’ move to attract investments in the area of agriculture, Barcelon said these countries are investing “heavily” in automation and mechanization because these countries utilize their resources. He said, “they have mechanized to be productive.”
Hence, Barcelon raised PCCI’s recommendation on tweaking the Agrarian Reform Law which he said is currently limited to 5 hectares. Such limitation is the reason behind the low productivity in Agriculture, Barcelon added.
The PCCI had earlier recommended amending the Agrarian Reform Law to “increase land retention limit from 5 to 24 hectares, implement a debt condonation program for unpaid amortizations of Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries and convert Certificates of Land ownership Award [CLOAs] into fee simple titles.”
In relation to Agriculture, Trade Secretary Alfredo E. Pascual said the best way to protect the purchasing power of Filipinos is to give them stable, “high-paying” jobs. This is why, he said, they are working on pursuing an industrialization strategy.
“Part of the industrialization strategy is the integration of industry policy investments and trade. We want to be able to link industry with agriculture so that we will be adding value to our harvest of agricultural crops,” Pascual said.
“We have to use our natural resources as pointed out by George Barcelon as a basis for industrialization. Agriculture is not a natural resource per se but it’s a mixed-use of natural endowments; land and water to produce agri crops and we have to add value to our harvest by linking agriculture to industry,” the Trade chief added.
Pascual also stressed that the big challenge for the country is “how do we consolidate the fragmented farm lands that we have.”