Lack of incentives under Export Dev’t Act scored

The country’s exporters criticized yesterday the government for its failure to provide the performance incentives mandated under the Export Development Act of 1995.

Philippine Exporters Confederation Inc. president Sergio Ortiz-Luis said government made a "broken promise" as it continued to disregard the supposed "rewards" for exporters who are able to improve on their annual output.

Under the EDA, the government would provide exporters P2 billion annually in the form of incentives to those with increased export shipments.

However, the exporters will have to register first with the Export Development Council (EDC) which would then monitor the exporters’ annual and incremental output to determine who can avail of the performance incentives.

Unfortunately, Ortiz-Luis said funding for the export performance incentive program has always been problematic since none of the government agencies which logically should administer the program are willing to have it included in their respective budgets.

These agencies include the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Finance and the Department of Budget and Management.

Up to 1997, exporters were still registering with the EDC but not one has yet availed of the performance perks from the government, Ortiz-Luis stressed.

This despite the export industry’s consistent role as one of the drivers of the country’s economic growth, generating multi-billion dollars in revenues, attracting investments and providing employment to thousands of Filipinos nationwide.