“There’s only limited time left for the 16th Congress to approve economic measures,” European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines vice president Guenter Taus said Tuesday during a membership meeting at the Shangri-La hotel in Makati City.

The foreign investors have urged Philippine lawmakers to speed up the approval of more important bills, such as the fiscal incentive rationalization and the customs modernization and tariff act.

Among the bills that recently approved to ease doing business in the Philippines are the amendment to the Cabotage Law or Co-Loading that is expected to lower the cost of shipping goods, and the amendment to R.A. 7721, or allowing the full entry of foreign banks to the Philippines.

The chamber noted the government’s efforts to institute reforms, especially the review of foreign ownership and the apprenticeship act.

But Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, chairman of the Senate committee on ways and means, said it would take awhile before his committee could act on them.

“So many portions of our tax system need reforms. And we are not without experts to help us identify solutions for them. But perhaps the more important issue is timing--which reform should be first. And this is where we will need to carefully weigh the options and make sure that we keep our objectives clear throughout this balancing act,” he told the businessmen.

Source: Manila Standard Today