Palace warns incidents like NLEX-Valenzuela row might turn off investors

Malacañang on Thursday warned occurrences similar to the radio-frequency identification (RFID) mess involving NLEX Corporation and the Valenzuela City government might discourage future investors.

NLEX Corporation’s business permit was suspended by the Valenzuela City government on Monday due to the unresolved issues on the RFID cashless payment mess.

Mayor Rex Gatchalian said the duration of the suspension of the business permit would depend on how soon the company will act on the complaints against them.

Speaking at a news conference, Palace spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. acknowledged the authority of the local government units (LGUs) to issue business permits even as he called for “balance” in dealing with issues.

“Kinakailangan din nilang isipin na babalansehin natin ito dahil iyong mga proyekto na kagaya ng expressways na dinibelop po ng mga pribadong sector ay baka mamaya eh ma-turn off ang mga future investors kung palaging mangyayari ito,” he said.

NLEX acknowledged on Tuesday the mandated 100% cashless toll implementation has experienced “birth pains” that unfortunately resulted in technical problems in some instances, causing massive traffic gridlock in the area, with Valenzuela being the worst affected city.

The Toll Regulatory Board said its audit team has yet to complete its analysis about the factors that went wrong on the initial implementation of the new collection policy. -MDM, GMA News