MAP drafting MOU with government on ease of doing business

MANILA, Philippines — Business group Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) is drafting a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) as part of efforts to  improve the  ease of doing business, especially at the local government level.

This was shared by MAP president Benedicta Du-Baladad during the post- State of the Nation Address (SONA) economic briefing yesterday.

Du-Baladad said the MAP conducted a survey among its members last November, results of which showed that ease of doing business is still their top concern.

She shared that the MAP is drafting an MOU with ARTA and DILG to address these concerns about ease of doing business.

The MAP president lauded the efforts of ARTA to improve the ease of doing business, particularly its digitization initiatives.

“And I think ARTA is doing a great job on this already. And they have pilot projects and they’re starting with some digitalization. And you would see that there is a positive impact on the ease of doing business of this digitization project,” Du-Baladad said.

She emphasized that the MAP is always open to collaborate with the government.

“MAP has always been open to collaboration with the government when it comes to aspects such as transparency, good governance, etc. And we have opened up several fora for discussions to come in,” Du-Baladad said.

As an example, she shared that the group has a regular breakfast dialogue with policymakers to discuss urgent issues of the day or those that matter for business.

Du-Baladad emphasized that most of the members of the current administration’s economic team are MAP members, such as Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan and Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual.

“So, as you can see, there is a natural linkage or connection and there is the same meeting of the minds when we talk,” Du-Baladad said.

The MAP was among the 32 business groups that earlier expressed support for the ARTA amid calls from the Office of the Ombudsman for its abolition in October. The business groups emphasized the two bodies to instead work together to improve government services.

“The difficulty of doing business with the government has always been a problem for businessmen, and a disincentive to invest in the Philippines. So it was welcomed when Congress passed RA 11032 creating the ARTA,” the 32 business groups said in a joint statement earlier.

“While much improvement is still desired in the area of ease of doing business, ARTA, in the three short years of its creation, has done its share and delivered through hard work of its people,”the groups said.

Under RA 11032, all services in government should be delivered or acted upon within the prescribed period of three days for simple transactions, seven for complex and 20 days for highly technical.