Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, November 3) – Palace and government officials vowed to step up efforts to do away with red tape after the Philippines dropped 14 places in the World Bank Group’s latest ease of doing business report.
“We will take this report very seriously and I think the President has shown a political will to get things done. I’m sure that this report will be a reason for us to further innovate and make sure that doing business in the Philippines will become easier,” said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque on Thursday.
The Philippines placed 113th over 190 economies, according to the World Bank report. The country slid 14 places from 99th a year ago.
“The latest drop in rankings of the Philippines in the World Bank Group report on Ease of Doing Business is a sobering account of our performance in attracting new investors and putting up new businesses in the country, ” said Philippine Competition Chairman Arsenio Balisacan in a statement.
Government is in the thick of instituting reforms to make the business climate more attractive in the Philippines, said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia.
A “one-stop shop” for business applications did not go far enough to boost the ease of doing business, Pernia said. Government instead wants to establish a “single-window approach”.
“We want to have a single-window approach so that the processing of permits and business applications will be faster,” Pernia said at a news briefing. With this system, a business will only have to submit all documents to one government representative or office that will take care of processing these, he added.
He was also hopeful that the Expanded Anti-Red Tape Act will be passed by early next year, along with the E-government Act that would integrate government data and processes to speed up delivery of services and boost efficiency.
There are also moves to amend economic provisions of the Constitution to relax restrictive foreign ownership provisions to attract more foreign investments.
The Philippine Competition Commission reiterated its commitment to work with private and public sectors in boosting competition and allowing new players to enter the market.
“We in PCC push for synergies in streamlining procedures, cutting down the processes to encourage businesses, and opening the market to more players to reach a level playing field,” Balisacan said.
The Philippines ranked the lowest in terms of starting a business at number 173, and also scored poorly in enforcing contracts with a rank of 149 among other countries surveyed, and 146 in protecting minority investors.
