Council to RP review competitiveness schemes

MANILA, Philippines - Initiatives to reduce red tape and improve local governance will be on the agenda as members of the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) and the country’s economic managers meet later this week. NCC co-chairman Ambassador Cesar Bautista told BusinessWorld this Friday’s meet would involve progress reports regarding schemes to improve the country’s global competitiveness. "We’re scheduled to discuss quite a lot of topics ... highlights of the meeting include local government issues," he said. "We want to have 100 world class LGUs (local government units). There will be talk on bureaucracy and red tape. We also want to narrow down a list of 10 problematic government institutions to six," he added. The meeting will include Finance Secretary Margarito B. Teves, Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila, acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto B. Santos, Education Secretary Jesli A. Lapus, and Transportation and Communications Secretary Leandro R. Mendoza. The NCC has identified eight priority areas where the Philippines needs to improve: human resources, management, finance, transportation cost and flows, infrastructure, energy, the judiciary, and legislation. Each area is headed by a representative from the private sector. Employers Confederation of the Philippines, Inc. President Sergio Ortiz-Luis Jr. said the NCC members would be reviewing future initiatives. "This is a regular quarterly meeting where we report to the council and economic managers progress of certain programs since the last meeting, which was three months ago," he said. A study by the NCC showed that businessmen consider red tape as the main constraint to doing business in the Philippines. The study also identified ten government institutions as having the most oppressively complex procedures. The tax, customs and immigration bureaus topped the list. Also included were local government units, the Social Security System, Laguna Lake Development Authority , Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Bureau of Fire Protection, Bureau of Foods and Drugs, and Philippine Health Insurance Corp. Philhealth is now out of the list after having completed reforms, the NCC said. The council was created in 2006 following reports of a decline in the country’s competitiveness rankings. — Bernardette S. Sto. Domingo, BusinessWorld