The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), tasked to lead the Inter-Agency Investment Promotion Coordination Committee (IIPCC) to be created under the newly-enacted amendments to the Foreign Investments Act (FIA), will craft a medium to long term marketing plan to realize the goal of the law.
Ceferino Rodolfo, DTI undersecretary and Board of Investments (BOI) managing head, said the Foreign Investment Promotion and Marketing Plan, which the IIPCC will use to promote and facilitate efforts to attract more foreign investments, is anchored on the “Make It Happen” promotions strategyadopted by the BOI and all the investment promotion agencies.
“It will have priority sectors and country markets,” Rodolfo said.
But Rodolfo said these lists will have to be reviewed to align them with the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act which has been fully implemented, and the anticipated approval of the Strategic Investments Priorities Plan and of the passage of key reform legislations.
Retail, which has been relaxed recently with the amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, will be included in the promotion although, like some sectors, will not be entitled to incentives under CREATE.
DTI Secretary Ramon Lopez in a statement over the weekend said the new law will encompass more sectors to encourage more investments.
Republic Act (RA) 11647 signed on March 2 by President Duterteamends RA 7042 or the Foreign Investments Act of 1991.
The new law allows qualified non-Philippine nationals to do business in the country or invest in a domestic enterprise up to 100 percent of its capital, and liberalizes the practice of professions not governed by existing special laws.
The law also allows foreign investors to set up 100 percent ownership of all small- and medium-sized enterprises.
Francis Chua, director at the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said the FIA amendments will help fast-track the recovery of the economy.
Chua saidthe appointment of Lopez as head of IIPCC will help facilitate the crafting of a win-win plan that would benefit both local and foreign investors.
