Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 19) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said he directed his economic team to reduce red tape, which has been “choking” the business industry despite his administration’s efforts to attract more investments.

The government should also not tax businesses heavily and tightly regulate their growth in order to attract foreign and domestic capital, the president said in his speech at the inauguration of the Gokongwei Group’s expanded JG Summit Petrochemicals Manufacturing Complex in Batangas City.

The president said the government’s economic team aims to “create a climate that propels economic growth, boosts incentives, promotes ease of doing business and funds high impact infrastructure.”

Marcos earlier signed the Ease of Paying Taxes law, which aims to simplify the tax filing process for small and medium enterprises and update the revenue collection system of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

According to JG Summit Holdings, Inc., the 250-hectare manufacturing complex houses the first and only naphtha cracker plant in the Philippines, which will produce petrochemicals used to create products such as plastics, medicine, cosmetics and electronics.