𝑰𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒂𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌, 𝒊𝒇 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒔𝒉𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒄. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒔𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒍𝒕 𝒃𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒄𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒂𝒙 𝒊𝒏𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒌𝒔, 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆. 𝑨𝒔 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒔𝒂𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒆𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒍𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒇𝒍𝒐𝒂𝒕, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒑. 𝑯𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒗𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒔 𝒔𝒖𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒏𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉? 𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒑?
The administration of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is well on its track to pushing the country towards greater progress.
Keeping a sustained infrastructure development and even adding more is highly laudable. After all, the massive build-up signals that the Philippines is indeed back in business.
Amidst the momentum of growth and progress lurks an apprehension. Investors and locators are bothered to no end as to the removal of incentives and other tax perks. Thus, questions are raised: are investors ready to sacrifice even more? Are they to shoulder the brunt of payments for loans that fund these projects?
Make no mistake about it. Investors are willing partners of progress. That is precisely the reason why they chose to be in Clark, Subic and other investment centers. But it is prayed that source of funding be found somewhere else rather on digging more into their pockets. After all, investors in Freeport Zones who contribute largely to Foreign Direct Investments, have been promised that the climate would remain preferable. This is in keeping the competitiveness of the country amidst neighboring contenders. Changing rules midstream may not just sit well.
Make no mistake about it, too, that locators in Clark, Subic and other economic zones are not anti-CREATE Act. In fact, they have religiously attended public hearings and consultations in and out of the halls of Congress. They hailed the passage of RA 11534 with the belief that it will level the playing field.
What they now lament is its IRR and the subsequent issuance of revenue regulations that changed the complexion of the game, unfavorably and unfairly.
Investors have been laying the golden egg. Let us keep it that way.
𝐖𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐘. 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐋.
