Exporters call for review of conflicting trade laws

Cebu exporters go hand in hand with the League of Provinces of the Philippines in calling for the elimination of the “bottleneck” laws that have dampened business in the Philippines.

"We should make our policies attractive in order for investments to come in, for money to come in, for more employment opportunities, for improvement of lives of families and for everyone to be happy," said Confederation of Philippine Exporters Inc., (PhilExport-Cebu) advocacy and information officer Jun Abines.

Abines said supporting this resolution will be part of the export organization's advocacies.

With this, Philexport-Cebu will also ask the League to include in its resolution a plea providing a study of existing laws that daunts businessmen from investing in the country, as well as a list of suggestions on how to eliminate these laws without compromising the authority vested on concerned government agencies.

"There is a need for the laws of certain agencies and departments to be reviewed," he said, citing laws that involve the export processing zones, Board of Investments, Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the local government, among others.

The contradicting provisions of these laws should be reconciled to pave way for an efficient business processing system for investors, Abines said.

The League's resolution raised the "need to build a simplified national business registration system and a need to harmonize business regulations in the country to provide a competitive edge in business globally."

The League of Provinces expressed concern for the survey made by the World Bank and International Finance Corp., which saw the country's ranking slipping from 136 to 140 in the list of 181 economies that have favorable business environments.

"The cause of the drop in the ease of doing business survey is due to conflicting laws and regulations on bureaucratic requirements, which hinder or discourage investors in the country," the resolution read.

Apart from the laws, Abines said that Philexport-Cebu believes that the country's low ranking was due to the lack of confidence of investors in the country's judicial system, bureaucracy and corruption at the local and national level, unstable peace and order, lack of skilled workers, and "unpredictable" minimum wage standards.

He noted that if it would take a sari-sari store more than P10,000 to legally operate under all existing laws and "overlapping requirements", big companies and investors are then expected to shell out more.

In an earlier interview with European Commission (EC) head of political, economic and trade affairs, Gabriel Munuera Viñals he said that the Philippines must improve its investment environment to attract more big Foreign Direct Investors (FDIs) from European countries.