BOI, DILG forge agreement facilitating investments in LGUs

MANILA, Philippines — The Board of Investments (BOI) has entered into an agreement with the Department of the Interior and Local Government’s Bureau of Local Government Development (BLGD) for investment facilitation and promotion activities for local government units (LGUs).

In a statement, the BOI said the memorandum of agreement (MOA) was signed by BOI Investments Assistance Center executive director Raul Angeles and DILG-BLGD director Anna Liza Bonagua.

The MOA seeks to promote collaboration between the two agencies in the conduct of investment promotion activities.

Under the agreement, the two agencies will work together in holding investment awareness seminars and in the facilitation of inquiries of clients of the BOI on LGU policies and programs and other concerns which are under DILG’s jurisdiction.

Part of the seminars to be held is the Local Economic and Investment Promotion Officer (LEIPO) Forum, which seeks to enable LEIPOs and other LGU officers to gain information to help them perform roles in making municipalities more conducive and attractive for investments.

To be able to serve and address BOI clients’ queries, the MOA also covers information sharing and coordination, including the use of the cloud-based BOI-One Window Network (OWN) portal.

Through the BOI-OWN web portal and mobile application system’s customer relation management application, investors can ask questions, as well as make requests for inbound missions and joint venture application.

Investors can also track and monitor their concerns through the email or SMS notification they will receive for every action or activity that will be undertaken by the designated account officers.

“The MOA is a welcome development as this undertaking further complements the agency’s various initiatives to strategically promote the country as an investment destination of choice and generate the much-needed employment for our countrymen,” Angeles said.

The BOI and DILG are among the 28 government agencies which signed the MOA to set up an Investment Promotion Unit Network in 2007, with the aim of complementing efforts to provide assistance to investors and position the Philippines as an attractive location for investments.

As of end-September, investments registered with the BOI grew 19 percent to P454.8 billion from P381.2 billion in the same period last year.

The BOI has set a P680 billion target for approved investments this year.

Last year, the BOI approved P617 billion worth of investments.