THE Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities (CREATE MORE) law can help insulate the Philippines from the effects of trade tariffs, a representative of foreign business groups said Monday, March 31.
“You know, the CREATE MORE law, I feel, is one that is really meant to insulate us in many respects, in so far as this entire global uncertainty is emerging. I guess it couldn’t have come at a better time,” said Chris Ilagan, co-chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (AmCham)’s legislative committee.
Ilagan is also the president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines. The US and Canada are in a trade war after US President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canadian imports.
Ilagan said CREATE MORE can help the Philippines attract more foreign direct investments.
“At that time, again, we weren’t thinking of all this global uncertainty emerging,” Ilagan said.
He added: “But now [it] puts us in a good position to be able to attract foreign investors who are looking at markets that are growing in their own right as domestic markets or as platforms potentially for further export-oriented trade.”
He stressed, however, that the law must still be implemented properly.
“Is the VAT refunding system happening as envisioned under the law? Are there any bottlenecks in availing the incentives? Right? Are the various government agencies in sync with each other? Are they following the spirit of what’s contained in CREATE MORE?” he said.
“It’s not a reform, per se, but it needs to happen in order for us to show that this create more is a credible law and one that actually delivers on the sorts of incentives that it has promised to deliver as envisioned,” he said. (ABS-CBN News)
