By John Victor D. Ordoñez, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINE Government, under President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., should make good on its vow to cut bureaucratic “red tape” and corruption to ensure investment pledges are implemented without delay, experts said at the weekend.

During a US Presidential Trade and Investment Mission’s visit to Manila last week, US Secretary Commerce Gina Raimondo said the President had promised the delegation that his administration would double its efforts to speed-up the bureaucracy and promote transparency to improve the Philippine business climate.

“There have been a slew of programs and policies (to address slow bureaucracy) and yet the problem remains,” Leonardo A. Lanzona, who teaches economics at the Ateneo de Manila University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat. “The crux is in the implementation. The solution is in the strengthening of institutions.”

US companies are looking to invest over a billion dollars in the Philippines, mostly in digital upskilling and in developing the semiconductor sector, Ms. Raimondo said last week.

She said about 30 million workers are expected to benefit from digital capacity building programs funded by US companies.

“Improved ease of doing business will help boost economic activity and digital access could speed things up,” Jonathan L. Ravelas, senior adviser at professional service firm Reyes Tacandong & Co., said in a Viber message.

At a Senate hearing on Feb. 12, BDO Capital and Investment Corp. President Eduardo V. Francisco said foreign investors have mainly been complaining about the slow bureaucracy when approving foreign-funded projects.

He said it takes 167 signatures to approve a foreign investment renewable energy project, noting that it used to take 250 signatures to get projects up and running.

Congress should push for a law that limits the number of permits agencies can issue and impose to avoid delays in project implementation, Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr., founder of the free market think tank Minimal Government Thinkers, said in a Viber message.

“Bureaucracies love delays, this omnibus law will disallow bureaucracies and agencies to create new permits on top of existing multiple permits,” he said.

Maryland-based Ally Power, Inc. has agreed to work with MPower, the local electricity supply arm of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), to build a $400-million (P22.16 billion) hydrogen and electric refueling station in the Philippines, the US Department of Commerce said last week.

Seattle-based Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. will also work with Meralco on a carbon-free electrical generation system, it added.

“Any expansion in capacities, whether new power generation, new technologies in power distribution and transmission, will help address rising demand and hence, stabilize prices,” Mr. Oplas said.

The high energy costs in the Philippines are keeping semiconductor and miners from investing in the Philippines, US State Department Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, Environment Jose W. Fernandez said during his visit to Manila last month.

Philippine Energy Policy and Planning Bureau (EPPB)Director Michael O. Sinocruz earlier told BusinessWorld that the Department of Energy (DoE) is finalizing an energy plan that would include efficient transmission of power to accommodate more renewable energy sources.

Approved foreign investment pledges last year hit P889.07 billion ($15.9 billion) about 3.7% higher than a year prior and the highest since 1996, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority.

Most of the greenlit pledges came from Germany that amounted to P393.99 billion, which is about 44.3% of the total.

“All these things (cutting red tape, anti-corruption measures are steps in the right direction which will make the Philippines an even more attractive place to do business for American companies,” Ms. Raimondo told a virtual news briefing on March 14.

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