President Benigno S. Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – President Benigno Aquino III has finally approved the much awaited 2014 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), which listed eight preferred sectors that will be eligible to avail of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives within the next three years.
These eight “preferred activities” or key industries were identified as manufacturing; agribusiness and fishery; services; economic and low-cost housing; hospitals; energy; public infrastructure and logistics; and public private partnership (PPP) projects, the Department of Trade and Industry said Wednesday.
In a text message, Trade Undersecretary Adrian S. Cristobal Jr. confirmed that the 2014 IPP was already signed in October, but noted that Malacañang has not issued, nor published a copy of this document, which was meant to “clearly target investment opportunities and needs to fill gaps in the supply or value chain; boost sectors with latent or obvious competitive advantage; and offset market imperfections.”
“The Office of the President will publish (the 2014 IPP) anytime now. We will present the IPP on Friday (during a public consultation). The final draft of the IPP had eight sectors listed and it was approved in toto,” Cristobal said.
According to the DTI, the public consultation to be held on Friday is part of the process in crafting general and specific guidelines for the 2014 IPP—deemed as a “tool for industrial development and economic growth and consists of specific economic activities that – based on industry studies, plans and roadmaps – are strategic or critical to advance a particular industry or improve the product’s value chain.”
Compared to the 2013 IPP, the 2014 list was, however, lean.
Last year, the IPP identified 13 “preferred activities” namely agriculture/agribusiness and fishery; creative industries/knowledge-based services; shipbuilding; mass housing; iron and steel; energy; infrastructure; research and development; green projects; motor vehicles; strategic projects; hospital/medical services; and disaster prevention, and mitigation and recovery projects.
The 2014 IPP has “innovative features” such as the principle of geographical application. This means that the relevance and impact of an economic activity in a particular region, province, or a cluster of local government units would be taken into consideration to ensure that the use of incentives will be maximized, according to the DTI.
Further, the 2014 IPP will be a rolling three-year plan, reviewed annually for effective implementation. This feature will ensure continuity, consistency and predictability– factors seriously considered by domestic and foreign investors.
Lastly, new mechanisms of coordination and convergence among relevant government agencies would be established to ensure the effective and efficient execution of the 2014 IPP, as well as providing venues for enhanced partnership and cooperation with the private sector, the DTI added.