Salceda reacts to PBBM's invites to China, WEF
Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda is looking forward to the economic windfalls that the Philippines stands to get from two big events that President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has been invited to.
Marcos, who is attending the 40th and 41st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit and related summits in Cambodia, has been invited to a state visit in China as well as the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
Both will take place in January next year. So far, Marcos has accepted the China visit.
“PBBM (Marcos) has been invited by China and the in January. These are very ripe opportunities to get more investments and protect our foreign reserves," Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said on Saturday afternoon, Nov. 12.
"We need to have reforms that we can sell the country’s growth story with. And the reforms I’ve cited don’t even need Congress. The economic team already has the tools fully at their disposal. I would urge decisive action without delay on these very low-hanging fruits," he added.
Salceda’s remarks were also backdropped by the country’s August foreign direct investments (FDI) data, which showed that foreign inflows have slowed by 19.2 percent year-on-year.
“President Marcos is achieving progress in agriculture. This is one of the few times the sector actually recorded positive growth. We need to capitalize on our strong Q3 GDP (third quarter gross domestic product) performance. While the decline in FDI is understandable due to global conditions, there are low-hanging fruits we haven’t picked up yet," he reckoned.
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The economist-congressman identified these low-hanging fruits as Public Service Act's implementing rules and regulations (IRR), which according to him are up for signing; the proposed amendments to the Renewable Energy Law, which the Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared; and the release of a more comprehensive list and strategy under the Strategic Investment Priorities Plan, the list of key industries eligible for tax incentives under the CREATE (Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises) Act.