MANILA, Philippines - The European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) is pushing for the appointment of a high-ranking investor relations manager in the Cabinet whom investors could turn to for their concerns with the government bureaucracy and in cases of unfair treatment.

“Investors need an ‘Investor Relations Manager’, a high ranking official within the government network who investors can talk to, can present their cases of unfair treatment to, and who will guide their valid concerns through the government bureaucracy or jungle and assist in finding constructive solutions for both the unhappy investor and government – arriving hopefully at win-win situations,” ECCP vice president for external affairs Henry Schumacher said in a statement yesterday.

Ideally, the investors relations manager should have Cabinet rank and be assigned to the Office of the President.

Schumacher said having an investors relations manager in the government is overdue as existing investors here need someone in the government who could assist them, especially when rules which are in place change in the middle of the game.

“It needs this kind of authority to cut through all the red tape, the fine print of laws and implementing rules and regulations, and the unwillingness of fellow government officials to see the ‘big picture’ rather than short-changing the old investors to look good in terms of tax revenues,” he said.

He cited that the San Roque Power Corp. (SRPC), for instance, which was invited by government to invest in a hydro power plant in the late 1990s, and was provided with the incentive that all capital goods could be imported duty and tax free has not found a ‘champion’ within government who would fight for them and remind the new set of government officials that the promises of former governments need to be honored.

Given the incentives offered to SRPC, it brought in the equipment in the early 2000s and had to advance the value-added taxes (VAT) on such, with the promise that it would be refunded once all documents are provided to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

In February of this year, the Supreme Court ruled however that SRPC which is jointly owned by Marubeni Corp. and Kansai Power International Corp., is not eligible to claim the VAT refund amounting to P483.80 million based on technicalities.

The High Court said the firm lost its right for refund as it filed the claims with the Court of Tax Appeals before the BIR gave its decision on the tax refund.

In the past, Schumacher said the Department of Trade and Industry had an ‘Ombudsman for investors’, who really fought for investors and focused on complaints against officials who are perceived to be hindering investment activities.

Unfortunately, the Ombudsman of investors lasted for a few years only and was never replaced.

The proposal for the creation of an investor relations manager comes as the government actively seeks to attract more investments to sustain the country’s positive economic performance as well as create jobs to make growth inclusive.

Amid the country’s favorable economic conditions, the government is also seeing renewed interest from firms to do business here.

Earlier, the ECCP along with other members of the Joint Foreign Chambers and Philippine Business Groups said the government needs to enact business and economic reform laws to attract more investments and generate employment.

In the Legislative Policy Brief containing the Joint Foreign Chambers and Philippine Business Groups’ legislative agenda for the 16th Congress, the groups said among the key reforms that need to be acted upon at an early date include the cabotage liberalization, competition policy, Customs Modernization and Tariffs Act, amendments to economic provisions of the Constitution, foreign investment negative list liberalization, amendments to the Government Procurement Act, Mining Fiscal Reform, Rationalization of Fiscal Incentives, and Transparency and Accountability in Fiscal Incentives.

Source: The Philippine Star; News; 25 September 2013