House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez on Thursday made a strong investment pitch to the members of the US-ASEAN Business Council, citing the country’s favorable economic prospects and its sustained campaign to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Speaking during the joint virtual meeting, Romualdez, chairman of the House Committee on Rules, assured senior business executives that the House leadership had been pushing economic reforms and effective pandemic response measures such as the immediate passage of the P405.6- billion Bayanihan to Arise as One Act or Bayanihan 3, which are crucial to the economic recovery program of the government.
“Still the most pressing problem that we have to attend to right now is the COVID-19 pandemic and the devastating effects it has wrought upon us. As of the moment, the House of Representatives is acting with dispatch in deliberating the Bayanihan 3 bill of Speaker Velasco, which seeks to provide P405.6-billion fund to help the country recover from the economic crunch triggered by the pandemic,” Romualdez, representative of Leyte's first district, said.
He also rallied support from members of the US-ASEAN Business Council for President Rodrigo Duterte’s vision and programs.
“We are awaiting the IRR (implementing rules and regulations) of the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (CITIRA), which should now include flexible tax and non-tax incentives so that.the government can better target specific investors that it wants to invest in our economy,” Romualdez, president of the Philippine Constitution Association (Philconsa), added.
Deputy Speakers Salvador Leachon of Oriental Mindoro and Weslie Gatchalian of Valenzuela City represented Velasco during the forum where they discussed the priority measures of the House leadership.
Reps. Joey Salceda of Albay, Edgar Sarmiento of Samar, Francisco Benitez of Negros Occidental and Sharon Garin of AAMBIS-OWA also joined the forum.
For over 35 years, the US-ASEAN Business Council has been the premier advocacy organization for United States corporations operating within the dynamic Association of Southeast Asian Nations, serving as the leading voice of the US private sector in promoting mutually beneficial trade and investment relationships between the US and Southeast Asia.
The group has been supporting COVID-19 response and recovery, accelerating digital transformation, promoting ease of doing business and economic liberalization measures, and reinforcing the US-Philippines bilateral ties for regional peace and prosperity.
Some of the delegation members of the US-ASEAN Business Council include, 3M, Airbnb, Amazon, Citibank, The Coca-Cola Company, Exxon Mobil, FedEx, Google, IBM, Jhpiego, Johnson & Jonson, MSD or Merck, Oracle, PepsiCo, PMFTC, Inc., Procter and Gamble, Salesforce, Texas Instruments, Twitter, Visa, VMWare, and other multinational firms.
Meanwhile, Romualdez, president of the Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD), assured them that the House leadership had been working very hard with the Chief Executive to continue introducing reforms and attract more foreign investors into the country.
He cited House Bill 7749 or the Government Financial Institutions Unified Initiatives to Distressed Enterprises for Economic Recovery (GUIDE), HB 7425 or the Digital Transactions Value Added Tax, HB 7406 or Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) Modernization Program, HB 6135 or Fiscal Mining Regime, and HB 7425 or Internet Transactions Act/E-Commerce Law that are part of the financial reforms outlined by Finance Sec. Sonny Dominguez “to stimulate domestic consumption and get the economy back on track the soonest.”
“Number one on this list is President Duterte’s ‘Build, Build, Build’ infrastructure modernization program, which is the best driver of economic growth. To reinvigorate consumer spending, the government will promote the manufacture of products that have strong and inelastic demand, notably by businesses involved in food production and logistics,” Romualdez said.
He said legislators had been exerting all efforts to ease doing business in the Philippines and make a more conducive business environment that would foster economic growth.
“These, my friends, are just a few of what we intend to accomplish in the remaining days of our term. We hope that this humble contribution of ours – coupled with help from investors and allies in the business community just like the US-ASEAN Business Council—would help us get back on our feet and bring us closer to realizing our dream of providing a better future to our fellow Filipinos,” Romualdez said.