Is the government a friend or enemy of business?

Among the ten ASEAN countries, namely: Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos PDR, Brunei Darrussalam, and the Philippines, only our country is currently making it difficult for businessmen, entrepreneurs, and industrialists to manage their business operations and to lead their people. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, the number one problem in the Philippines is an inept, inefficient, and corrupt government bureaucracy. It is not the labor force or the management that is the problem, the number one problem of business is government.

The Philippine government makes it very, very difficult to start a business, with too many licenses, too many permits, too many fees, and too many taxes and duties. Worst of all, the offices are without any sense of urgency, much less any shade of customer orientation. In Singapore, you only need 48 hours at the most to start a business operation. Here, in the Philippines, 48 weeks may not be enough. The Philippines has one of the highest rates in corporate and personal income taxes. Here more than one-third of the managers’ salaries are taken by government even without asking the taxpayers.

In the Philippines, every medium-scale, small, or even micro business enterprises is being regulated by the DTI, the local government, the DOLE, the BIR, and even by the barangay chairman and his minions and underlings. They all require submissions of too much paperwork, too many reports, attachments, and annexes. The DOLE inspectors come and look for violations, even in the computation of salaries and benefits. They interfere in the hiring, firing, in paying compensation, benefits, even in the discipline and dismissal of workers.

Region 7 is just lucky that the OIC Regional Director Cyril Ticao (like Director Ely Cayanong) as well as OIC Assistant Regional Director Lilia Estillore are career professionals who truly understand the plight of small businesses. These officials based in Cebu are more developmental than regulatory. They help business managers and workers arrive at fair and just settlement of small disputes, instead of escalating them into serious disturbances of industrial peace. They are the hope of businesses, but only in Region 7. In other regions, businessmen are crying and many investors are withdrawing.

The government should help and not weaken the business firms, much less destroy business, for that would be killing the goose that lays the golden egg.