Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that in order to fully liberalize the Philippine economy, the government will continue to push for the amendments to the Foreign Investments Act (FIA), Public Service Act (PSA), and Retail Trade Liberalization Act (RTLA), which were all certified by the President as urgent.
“The move will help speed up the approval of these measures within the President’s term,” Dominguez said of the proposed amendments, which President Duterte certified this week as priority bills for congressional approval.
Speaking to executives of Philippine and American companies in a virtual briefing on April 15, Dominguez also said that the country will sustain ongoing digital reforms in its principal revenue agencies to ensure that they match the efficiencies of the best comparable institutions worldwide.
“In our [digitization] efforts, we give primacy to our close collaboration with the private sector,” he said.
The government will also invest heavily in training its highly talented, tech-savvy, and young workforce to be more competitive in the global economy, he added.
The Finance Secretary also assured investors that the Duterte administration is strongly committed to hitting the targets set by the Paris Agreement on climate change action.
“We also want to pursue investments in green technologies and clean energy. I am sure that there are many areas where we can cooperate on these initiatives,” said Dominguez, who is concurrent chairman of the Climate Change Commission.
The online economic briefing, which was held via Zoom with the theme “Philippines-United States (PHL-US) at 75: Strengthening Ties through Sustainable Recovery,” was organized by Philippine Ambassador to the US Jose Manuel Romualdez in Washington, DC.
Also present at the event were Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi; John Law, Chargé d’ Affaires of the US Embassy in the Philippines; David Marchick, Chief Operating Officer of the US International Development Finance Corporation; Gloria Steele, Acting Administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID); Enoh Ebong, Acting Director of the US Trade and Development Agency; and Alexander Feldman, President and CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council. DOF/jlo
