A COALITION of businessmen, civic leaders and employers vowed to support President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in his efforts to shore up the economy under the Bagong Pilipinas brand of governance.
Led by Jose D. Lina, the Buklod Bayani Coalition (BBC) entered into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with Secretary Frederick Go, Office of the Special Assistant for Investment and Economic Affairs (OSPAIEA), and Secretary Ernesto Perez, director of the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA), to help and assist the government in the delivery of services to the public.
“Our government under the leadership of President BBM (Marcos) is doing its best to shore up our economy, create jobs and livelihood opportunities for the people and achieve the dream of a Bagong Pilipino,” Lina said.
“In the aspect of Ease of Doing Business and in patient delivery of government services, the Buklod Bayani coalition shall mobilize a nationwide network to assist ARTA in ensuring that doing business in the Philippines becomes easier and that government delivery of services is efficient,” he added.
The MOA was signed during a forum workshop hosted by ARTA at the Manila Hotel on Wednesday. Prominent business leaders and members of the diplomatic corps attended the event.
Secretary Go and Perez, signed in behalf of the ARTA with businessman Guillermo M. Luz, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), witnessing the event.
Lina, for his part, told the forum that BBC is a coalition of several civic organizations, employers federation, exporters federation with the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and the International Chamber of Commerce Philippines.
He said the coalition had agreed to help ARTA in its efforts to reduce red tape in the bureaucracy to encourage investments in the Philippines.
“The BBC shall help ARTA identify bottlenecks, especially red tape and bureaucratic inefficiency.
So they are addressed, removed and rectified immediately. Consequently, business will grow and the economy … towards the end, it is an act of bold result, we shall enter into a memorandum of agreement with ARTA that will specify the role and responsibilities (of) both the BBC and ARTA would perform to achieve the objective of bureaucratic efficiency and the bolder dream of Bagong Pilipinas,” Lina said.
“Much more needs to be done. We the citizens have to share out time, talent and (treasure) to help our government realize the set goals and dreams,” Lina stressed.
During the same forum at the Manila Hotel, Secretary Perez mentioned the ongoing initiatives of ARTA and OSPAIEA, working over the pronouncement of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that the foreign visits of President Marcos has garnered around PhP4 trillion worth of investments.
“This is a very welcome campaign since this would result to the lot of economic benefits for the country however …we have mentioned about encountering difficulties …challenges in establishing their businesses in the country,” Perez said.
He said that aside from the government, the greatest marketers are those who already have business in the country. “Their experience (in doing business in the Philippines), they are the ones that would help bring in new investors.”
Go, for his part, agreed with the observations of Perez, that the source of promoting the country are the existing investors.
“Make happy investors and make them our spokespeople to the rest of the world why investing the Philippines is a wonderful experience. And apart from that, all moves are towards promoting more domestic and foreign investments in the Philippines,” Go said.
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