PCCI calls for reforms to ensure MSMEs benefit from LEC growth

The Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), with support from the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE), has released its 2026 Economic Security and Competitiveness Agenda, a consolidated, SME-driven advocacy and reform agenda designed to ensure that Philippine enterprises can participate meaningfully in corridor driven growth.

PCCI released the initial findings from the four sector policy briefs produced under the PCCI Economic Security Dialogue Series 2026, covering agriculture and food security, energy security, digital trade and e-commerce, and semiconductors and electronics. It presents a unified set of six cross-sectoral reform priorities intended to convert infrastructure investment into broader economic participation.

This year’s 52nd Philippine Business Conference and Expo (PBC&E) comes at a historic time for the Philippine economy. With the launch of the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC) and other major infrastructure and investment initiatives, the Philippines must seize every opportunity to strengthen its role in global supply chains.

"The objective is simple: corridor growth should create real commercial opportunities for Philippine enterprises, not just additional advantages for large and foreign firms," PCCI said.

While the Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC), together with Pax Silica and other emerging growth corridors, presents significant opportunities for Philippine businesses, PCCI said these benefits will not materialize automatically. Without deliberate policies and supplier-development efforts, many of the resulting contracts and commercial opportunities will continue to flow primarily to larger and foreign companies.

The six cross-sectoral reform priorities

The Agenda identifies six priorities that address obstacles common across all four sectors—limited scale, weak supplier readiness, high logistics and infrastructure costs, overlapping regulation, limited access to finance, and poor visibility of buyers and opportunities:

1. Build supplier readiness and enterprise capability. Sector supplier-development programs, certification support, and aggregation to help enterprises meet buyer standards for quality, safety, volume, and consistency.

2. Map opportunities and connect enterprises to buyers. A single LEC MSME Opportunity and Supply Chain Map, supplier databases, and business matching to connect local firms to institutional buyers and large corridor investors.

3. Invest in shared logistics, energy, and enabling infrastructure. Cold chain facilities, food hubs, provincial mini-hubs, shared warehouses, and reliable, competitively priced power to lower costs and improve market access.

4. Streamline regulation and modernize trade facilitation. Harmonized, proportionate, and digital compliance, simplified permitting for support industries, and paperless trade reforms.

5. Expand access to finance, technology, and digital capability. Credit enhancement for SME-scale projects, shared services, technology adoption support, and interoperable digital payments including cross-border QR.

6. Prepare enterprises for ASEAN integration and amplify the private-sector voice regionally. A Digital Trade Readiness Program for the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), partnerships with international firms, and advocacy through ASEAN BAC, CACCI, and ICC.

A seventh element—a standing public-private dialogue—serves as the mechanism for carrying out and monitoring the six priorities.

"The Philippines must move from simply attracting investments to creating Philippine value. The Luzon Economic Corridor should not only be a corridor for moving goods and attracting capital, but also a corridor for creating opportunities for Philippine businesses, MSMEs, farmers, workers, and communities across the country," PCCI said.

The policy recommendations are aimed at enabling MSMEs to fully participate in and benefit from the vast opportunities offered by the LEC and other major infrastructure projects.

“For PCCI “raising the bar” means elevating competitiveness, productivity, and innovation, and ensuring that enterprises, especially MSMEs, are empowered to and can meaningfully participate in the opportunities created by new investments,” PCCI said.

With the theme, Raising the Bar: Empowering Business for a Resilient Future, the 52ND PBC&E will convene on October 13-14 at The Manila Hotel, gathering over a thousand delegates from PCCI network, policymakers, development partners, and key stakeholders to shape a shared agenda for national economic growth and competitiveness.

Press release from PCCI