For next president, businessmen bare wish list

MANILA, Philippines – An international airport that works efficiently and does not cause flight delays, a number of new roads and bridges and a consistent and level playing field in doing business are just among the wishes that businessmen want from the country’s next president.

Businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan said the next administration must be consistent with policies.  

“I would say more decisiveness. Don’t change the rules in the middle of the game. You have contracts so don’t change them,” Pangilinan said.

The Aquino administration over the past six years has often been criticized by the private sector for changing the rules in the middle of contracts.

Pangilinan, who heads Metro Pacific Investments Corp. (MPIC), however, said the business community could not disregard what the present administration has done for the improvement of the national economy despite its shortcomings.

“Everybody was a beneficiary (of the economic boom),” Pangilinan said.

Ports and casino magnate Enrique Razon said the next administration must immediately work to build a new airport and connecting roads.

“My wish is that they focus on the needed infrastructure. Number one is an airport. And then roads. They have to do these more or less at the same time,” Razon said in a recent interview.

Asked if he is willing to help the next administration should it continue the Aquino administration’s public-private program for infrastructure, Razon said yes.

“For an attractive project, why not? If it will help push things forward, yes I am willing to help. It could possibly be an airport project,” he said.

Razon, whose operator International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s main office sits right at the heart of the congested port area in Tondo, Manila, has long been pushing for new roads.

Businesswoman Josephine Gotianun-Yap, president and CEO of conglomerate Filinvest Development Corp. also hopes to see an improvement in the country’s infrastructure.

“All the citizens are looking at some basic infrastructure that is really making the productivity of our country better. Examples are mass transit and airport. These are really very basic infrastructure. If we can just have these and the connector roads, it would make everybody happy,” Gotianun-Yap said.

She also said businesses want a “business friendly government” that would ease the cost of doing business and make it cheaper.

“We need to make more companies invest in manufacturing plants so you can create permanent employment. The basic things that people look at before we make major investment include infrastructure and ease of doing business. We also want a level playing field,” she said.

For global fund manager Mark Mobius of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, a business friendly environment is important before he decides on putting his funds in the Philippines.

“It should be business-friendly and can administer with the minimum of corruption. Business like predictability and understandable regulation,” Mobius said.

Peter Wallace of the Management Association of the Philippines and founder of the Wallace Business Forum, consistency of policies in the government is vital in attracting more foreign direct investments to the country.

“Investors look for stability, consistency and predictability of the business environment. Not changes every six years or sooner,” Wallace said.

According to Wallace, a study conducted by Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) has revealed that weak enforcement of contracts is among the most pernicious ways of turning off foreign investors.

“Philippine government’s rules must not be changed on a whim. Bidding rules must not be altered. It scares investors away,” Wallace said.

Many analysts, for their part, said the lack of an economic platform by presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte is sending jitters to the local stock market.

Last week, the PSEi fell 1.32 percent week-on-week to 7,159.29. It dropped to as low as 7,122.76 during the week.

Last week, the tough-talking Duterte faced the business community in a meeting organized by the Makati Business Club but his executives said his two-hour long speech, peppered with expletives, did not really provide a detailed economic program.