THE head of the Makati Business Club (MBC) yesterday said the group is satisfied with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s second State of the Nation Address (SONA) calling it very straightforward and business-like.
MBC executive director Coco Alcuaz added that the government’s focus on economic recovery “gives comfort” to the business sector.
But he noted there are some points Marcos failed to address in his SONA.
“We did miss from the SONA mention of the proposed (Public-Private Partnership) Act, and also amendments to the Right-of-Way Law. Both of these are, we think, very highly essential in order to get public private partnerships and infrastructure in general moving,” Alcuaz said.
He also said that he would have wanted the president to talk about the Bank Secrecy Law, Freedom of Information Law, and the strengthening of the law governing the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN).
“When we talk about the Bank Secrecy Law, we also couple that or parallel that with two other bills, or two other proposals: and FOI or Freedom of Information Law, and also the strengthening of the SALN [statement of assets, liabilities, net worth] Law.”
“We believe that these three together can really address the anti-corruption angle of the president. The FOI law also addresses the president’s desire to really digitalize the government and make information accessible in the government,” he explained.
Alcuaz said they also welcome Marcos’ move to ask Congress to pass the amendment of the Cooperative Code, new government procurement law, new government auditing code, and ease of paying taxes bill.
He said the proposal to ease tax payments will be a “a game changer for the economy, especially for (micro, small and medium enterprises).”
He also noted the procurement and audit laws have been making doing business in the Philippines difficult for investors.
“In some ways, the procurement law holds back those who want to do business honestly but really doesn’t stop effectively those willing to do business dishonestly,” he stressed.
Alcuaz also noted possible amendments to the Cooperative Code.
“There’s a thought that coops should be more like ‘corporatives’ than coops, but if we’re going to get our very fragmented farm holdings consolidated, we would need a stronger, better coop law to do that,” he said. (ABS-CBN News)
