Joey’s GoNegosyo on the go

We have to admit Joey Concepcion’s GoNegosyo “Meet the Presidentiables” forum has been very successful, with the second run held at the Manila Polo Club last Monday with Liberal Party standard bearer Mar Roxas as guest. The forum series started with Vice President Jejomar Binay last month and on Dec. 2, it will be the turn of Sen. Grace Poe to face businessmen and entrepreneurs and share her platform and vision for the nation.

Now on its 10th year, GoNegosyo has become more relevant than ever as it has become a channel for Filipinos to achieve success in life. As Joey noted during his opening remarks, now more than ever, the small minority of wealthy families should extend help to the greater majority for the country to truly achieve progress. GoNegosyo’s advocacy most notably for SMEs and its partnership with key entities both in the government and the private sector has done a lot to help many realize their dreams of becoming successful entrepreneurs. It has also found champions in the person of several legislators like Cynthia Villar, Sonny Angara and Bam Aquino who was present at the forum.

Taped as live and to be aired on Dec. 10 over TV5, the forum was moderated by veteran anchor and journalist Luchi Cruz Valdez. With me as panelists were MVP Media Bureau head Mike Toledo, “doctor to the stars” Dra. Vicky Belo, Destileria Limtuaco president and CEO Olivia Limpe-Aw, Pamora Farms general manager Tina Papillon and GoNegosyo executive director Ramon Lopez.

Obviously, this was Mar’s crowd and he looked very comfortable and very relaxed. He gave an excellent extemporaneous opening spiel and answered the questions directly, which impressed the audience – many of whom were top CEOs and businessmen although there were some college students and young people in the crowd. Naturally, Mar was familiar with many who were present, having been a former Trade Secretary plus the fact that he also belongs to one of the wealthiest families in the country – although someone did point out to me the business owners present had a big voting bloc of the middle and lower classes on account of their employees.

Mar was asked if he was amenable to changing the Charter since one of the reasons cited why we continue to lag behind our neighboring nations as far as foreign direct investments is concerned is the overly protectionist provisions in the 1987 Constitution. Mar, however, believes the Constitution is “not the weakest link” that’s keeping businessmen from  putting up businesses in the country. Citing his previous experience as Trade Secretary, Mar said not one businessman complained about the Constitution but unveiled the harassment they get from local government officials plus the corruption from such agencies as the Bureau of Customs which keep them from putting up or expanding their businesses.

On the contrary, opening up talks about Charter change at this time would become a deterrent to business because investors will be wary as they will not know what to expect – which would make them think twice about investing. Land (ownership) is not the be all and end all of investing, Mar commented.

On the issue of reducing income tax rates, he reminded people that he filed a Senate bill to exempt minimum wage earners, both in private and public, from filing income taxes. And while he is open to the idea of lowering income tax rates, this is an issue that has to be deliberated on because of its impact on the economy, stressing that he is focused on responsible governance and not so much as popularity.  If we just want to look good, then we can just say let’s scrap the taxes, he said, adding that to discuss the lowering of tax rates in the heat of the political campaign would not be advisable.

Naturally, among the hot button issues is the traffic congestion that keeps getting worse every day. “I find it really anomalous that bus franchises are owned by different individuals and companies,” he said, noting that one of the reasons why bus drivers race each other on the streets is the incentive system wherein bus drivers get compensated according to the number of passengers that ride their buses. Since bus drivers are given a boundary or quota, they try to beat other bus drivers plying the same route to get passengers – resulting in traffic chaos and accidents – some of which have been fatal.

If Roxas were to become president, he would terminate all the various franchises along major thoroughfares in Metro Manila – like EDSA for instance – to streamline the system. While Roxas was explaining, a sound like something big dropping on the floor interrupted the discussion – twice actually – which prompted him to remark, “Are there bus company owners in the audience?” – eliciting laughter from the crowd.

Roxas reiterated the need for a Department of Common Sense, citing the tedious processes that businessmen have to put up with in registering their businesses by filing a set of documents at the SEC, then going through the same thing again at the DTI, the BIR and other agencies including local government offices. One solution would be to develop a software for business processing so that data is captured which can then be made accessible to various government agencies to avoid the tedious and repetitive process of filing documentary requirements, he pointed out.

There is no doubt Mar Roxas is the candidate of choice for most of the upper crust of society, and are convinced he is the man for the job. The biggest challenge that Mar faces – by his own admission – is to convince the larger number of the voting public that he is the right man to lead this country come 2016.

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