Traders worry over `transition' DTI secretary

A top official of the Department of Trade and Industry revealed yesterday that some businessmen whom he had talked to expressed concern that the appointment of House Majority Leader Mar Roxas III as trade and industry secretary would be largely transitory as he has indicated a preference to run for a higher elective post.

"The apprehension is largely about consistency in policies," the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. "Businessmen are worried that with these constant changing of the guards in the department and the vacancies they create, investment policies and priorities would also be constantly changing."

According to the official, Roxas has not given any indications that he will be veering away from the policy direction set by Pardo but he was keen on streamlining the bureaucracy and trimming off excess fat at the DTI which had become one of the biggest line agencies in government.

When asked about this, Roxas himself was non-committal about how long he intended to say at the DTI and made no comment about his senatorial aspirations. "Whatever job I do for however long, I will do it the best I can," he told reporters during his first press conference.

Roxas said his aim was to provide a stable policy environment for investments, admitting that basic instability in government investment policies were one of the primary disincentives for both local and foreign investors.

However, Roxas also indicated that unlike Pardo who had been fighting Congress and the Department of Finance on questions of providing huge incentives for investors, he did not consider incentives to be the primary tool for attracting investments.

"On general principles, I do not think incentives should be your primary tool for getting investors to come," he said. "If that is your only tool, then it will have to be substantial in order for it to make a difference and overcome basic shortcomings in other fundamentals such as infrastructure support."

Businessmen said Roxas' early pronouncement was an indication that the DTI would not be pushing as hard for the package of incentives that the department had been lobbying for under Pardo's term.

Pending in both houses of congress is a proposed bill rationalizing all government incentives for local and foreign investors, including the 12-year income tax holiday for projects $1 billion and above.