Local businesses are strongly supporting initiatives to reopen further the Philippine economy, which has suffered from long lockdowns and quarantines due to COVID-19.

“We, the undersigned, express our strong support for the initiatives of the Duterte administration to open the Philippine economy as a means for economic recovery and sustainability,” according to a statement by  Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc., Foundation for Economic Freedom, Inc., Management Association of the Philippines, Subdivision and Housing Developers Association, Inc., and  UP School of Economics Alumni Association.

As the Philippine economy struggles to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, alongside the rest of the world, the business groups said, “It is important to balance public health with the deleterious effects of poverty and hunger on our countrymen, and to maximize opportunities to attract foreign investments to create jobs and build the infrastructure for a strong digital economy.”

For these reasons, the groups said, they support the call of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the economic managers to shift the entire country to the less stringent modified general community quarantine, and to implement localized containment measures when needed.

They believe that the delicate balance between poverty and health will be best served. Ideally, the groups said, these health measures should be standardized across local government units (LGUs) to reduce uncertainty for all.

In addition, businessmen also joined NEDA and the economic managers in urging the Senate to prioritize the swift passage of the amendments to the Public Service Act, the Retail Trade Liberalization Act and the Foreign Investment Act, which are necessary preconditions to promulgate a more progressive Foreign Investment Negative List (FINL). 

NEDA has explicitly stated that it has exhausted all possible actions at the executive level, and it is now imperative for our lawmakers to step in to enable the country to maximize economic opportunities for the economy to recover from the effects of the pandemic.

^“These pieces of legislation are the structural reforms that will complement the tax reforms recently enacted by the legislature and make the country more competitive in attracting FDI in a post pandemic era,” the groups said.

 While the business community supports the initiatives to liberalize the economy by amending the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution, “We are one with the position of the Department of Finance that our legislature should act on something that doable and immediately achievable.”

 The groups warned that delaying further the passage of reform bills could result in lost opportunities and see us again lagging behind our neighbors in our quest for economic recovery and sustainability.

“To this end, we recommend that the Executive Branch convene the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC) to expedite the enactment of these much needed, and long overdue reforms,” the statement said.

“For the sake of our economy and the well-being of our people, we urge our government officials to act with the urgency that our situation demands, implement localized containment instead of community quarantines, and enact these crucial investment reforms,” the statement concluded.