Business NEWS

Business organizations lauded the enactment of Financial Institutions Strategic Transfer (FIST) Act into law as timely stating the new law would further aid in the recovery of the Philippine economy, which has been battered by long lockdowns and quarantines due to the pandemic.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin E. Diokno said the new law that will help the domestic financial system manage its bad debts during the health crisis and post-pandemic, will significantly decrease banks’ soured loans ratio and encourage deposits and investments.

As the country enters a new year and there are positive developments on the discovery and roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines, the country’s ten major business groups strongly urged the Duterte government to maintain its focus on safe economic recovery.

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At least 30 business organizations are signing a Joint Statement of Support calling for the immediate passage of the long delayed Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Bill with all the critical features to boost businesses and attract more investors into the country.

Instead of Charter change, the Duterte Administration’s chief economic manager has suggested that the lawmakers may consider the further opening up of the local economy to foreign investments.

 AURELIO “Gigi” R. MONTINOLA III, Chair of Far Eastern University (FEU), is the President of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) for 2021.  Mr. Montinola is the 72nd President of the MAP since its inception in 1950. 

 While CEOs here and abroad are mouthing the buzzword “digitalization”, the head of the country’s largest commercial bank BDO Unibank thinks the concept of digital as a little bit “overplayed.”

Despite the expected Malacanang approval of the CREATE bill following Senate passage, the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) said there is still so much to do to attract foreign direct investments.

While sustainability is just flourishing as a battle cry and pursuit for many corporations in the Philippines as underpinned by the implementation of the environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) framework this year, First Gen Corporation Chairman and CEO Federico R. Lopez highlighted that “corporate sustainability that seeks to simply ‘tick the box’ or do less harm is no longer good enough.”

The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) has urged establishments to strict comply with the 7 Commandments, a set of health and safety protocols, as the government further relaxes quarantine restrictions in the country.

Federico “Piki” R. Lopez, chairman and CEO of the Lopez Group’s First Philippine Holdings Corporation, is the Management Association of the Philippines’ (MAP) Management Man of the Year 2020.