EO for ‘Green Lane’ out soon — BoI
Once this is done, we expect that more jobs will be generated for our kababayans, especially in less developed areas
The Board of Investments said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. would sign an executive order providing guidelines to expedite the processing and issuing of permits and licenses for strategic investments by creating a “green lane” system.
This was after President Marcos Jr. met with Trade Secretary Fred Pascual, who also sits as the board chairperson of the BoI, last week.
There has yet to be a definite date for the President to sign the EO, which is deemed to accelerate economic recoup for Philippine businesses and generate jobs in the country.
DTI undersecretary Carol Sanchez states a Friday meeting will be held on 9 December 2022, between Secretary Pascual and President Marcos.
“Then hopefully soon after that, the EO will be signed,” Sanchez told the Daily Tribune.
The EO will mandate concerned offices to establish a Green Lane to expedite and streamline the process and requirements for issuing permits and licenses, including resolutions of issues concerning strategic investments.
This is in line with the President’s directive to improve the bureaucratic efficiency of the government and achieve the administration’s 8-point economic agenda.
During the meeting, Secretary Pascual also proposed to the EO to create the technology-abled One-Stop Action Center for strategic investments.
“The EO is aimed at encouraging investors to engage in Strategic Investments by facilitating and expediting actions related to the application of permits and licenses filed with National Government Agencies and their regional and provincial offices and Local Government Units. Further, it contains a provision that mandates NGAs and LGUs to simultaneously process applications for permits and licenses with the presumption that relevant documents from other agencies have already been issued,” the BoI said in a statement Saturday.
The applicant shall execute an affidavit of undertaking that it has secured the relevant documents from specific NGAs for LGUs and shall submit the complete documentary requirements within 30 working days.
“This Executive Order will be complementary to the functions of the Anti-Red Tape Authority. Through this and with the help of ARTA, especially in streamlining government procedures, we will create a more favorable business ecosystem in the country by ensuring that investors planning to expand in the Philippines will go through seamless application processes. Once this is done, we expect that more jobs will be generated for our kababayans, especially in less developed areas,” according to Pascual.
The strategic investments include “projects of national significance, highly desirable projects endorsed by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board and foreign direct investments approved by the Inter-Agency Investments Promotion Coordination Committee or priority projects or activities under the Strategic Investment Priority Plan, which are considered as projects of national significance or highly desirable the BoI of the concerned Investment Promotion Agencies may endorse that.
Other key features of the proposed EO are the single point of entry for Strategic Investments availing of the Green Lane services with dedicated accounts officers designated to specific strategic investments for monitoring purposes.
Further, periodic reporting to the President of the Philippines will be done on the designation and endorsement of Strategic Investments and the progress made in their implementation.
These updates shall be regularly reported to the Cabinet at an interval to be determined by the Presidential Management Staff.