During the conference, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto emphasized the importance of a business environment that supports consistent progress. Green lanes are of utmost importance, he said, because these would streamline regulatory processes and reduce bottlenecks. These will make it easier for businesses to invest and establish operations here.
He cited an upcoming piece of legislation called CREATE MORE, aimed at attracting capital-intensive investments and creating quality jobs in sectors like BPO, IT, construction and healthcare. With incentives for investors, this is a real game-changer, he said.
Secretary Recto also cited the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Code as the best way to promote private sector involvement in key infrastructure projects, including physical and digital infrastructure like data centers, which is essential for modernizing and strengthening the economy.
For his part, Ayala Corp. Chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala underscored the importance of creating an environment conducive to private sector collaboration, especially in infrastructure projects. He pointed to the privatization of NAIA as a successful example of how private sector involvement can address infrastructure needs.
“I’ve always been a great believer that private capital should be used extensively to address some of the infrastructure pain points in the country. For that, you need an environment that is friendly to this kind of collaboration,” he said.
He also suggested the government should focus on legal and regulatory reforms to ease private sector participation, emphasizing that stability and consistency in frameworks would attract more private capital into infrastructure and other sectors.
Jose Diaz-Caneja, the chief executive officer of ACCIONA Infrastructure, said they see tremendous opportunities in the Philippines, particularly in the infrastructure sector. This influenced their decision to relocate their headquarters to the Philippines. He highlighted the Philippines' talent pool, noting that Filipino workers contribute to both local and global projects that benefit local infrastructure efforts upon their return.
“Predictability and transparency are essential for investors, both local and foreign. No one wants rules to change midstream or to deal with uncertainty; it's impossible to plan under those conditions. It’s reassuring to see that the current administration, as stated by the president, has continued good infrastructure programs from the previous administration. This shows continuity and is a positive step, as past governments often discarded prior projects,” he said.
Díaz-Caneja also emphasized the need for long-term planning in infrastructure and stressed that predictability, transparency, and cooperation across stakeholders are crucial for investor confidence and successful, long-term infrastructure development.
Guillaume Lucci, president and CEO of Prime Infra, emphasized that the primary challenge in infrastructure development lies in policy execution. “I don’t think national policies are the problem. There’s a disconnect between sophisticated national policies and how they get implemented at the LGU level. If there’s one area of bottleneck, I would say it is the translation and implementation of these policies at the LGU level,” he explained.
He also highlighted the importance of incorporating sustainability into the needs of Filipinos' critical infrastructure, which may include decarbonizing transportation.
In the mining sector, an indispensable industry for the country’s clean energy transition, laywer Michael Toledo, chairman of Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, said for the first time in history, they were able to meet with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and present the state of the industry as well as their recommendations on how the mining industry in the country can flourish.
In their recommendations, Toledo said the group emphasized the importance of ease of doing business and the need for stable and transparent policies.
“We were told that it would take more than a thousand signatures just to get an exploration permit or a mineral processing agreement. But this is no longer the case because Secretary Toni [Loyzaga] together with Secretary [Frederick] Go, as well as ARTA Secretary Nes Perez, have been really working hard to shorten this. So what would take, maybe three four, five years can now be shortened to less than a year or even little over six months,” Toledo said.
When an economy’s growth is led by investment, it is almost certain that the growth would be sustainable. The gains will not only be for the present time, but will also be for future generations. There will be jobs and consequent income, but there will also be a measure of assurance that these will continue into the foreseeable future.
The private sector is indispensable to sustainable development and the improvement of our people’s quality of life. We must ensure that our policies and regulations are designed and implemented to support the private sector’s initiatives. This is what real partnership is all about.
Rupert Paul Manhit is the COO and managing director of think tank Stratbase Group. He is the executive director of Philippine Trade Foundation (Phils Inc.)