MAP pushes safe reopening of economy, passage of CREATE

MANILA, Philippines — The Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) is pushing for the safe reopening of the economy and immediate approval into law of the proposed Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act to help businesses affected by the pandemic.

New MAP president Aurelio Montinola III said during the business group’s induction of its board of governors for 2021 that the safe reopening of the economy is among the policy prescriptions to be pushed for this year.

As MAP welcomes the government’s efforts to fund the vaccination of frontliners and the less fortunate, he said the group would also be doing its part in the safe reopening of businesses and the economy by helping smaller member companies not included in the current government priority lists procure COVID-19 vaccines.

“We will also advocate public transportation that provides mobility that is essential for the economy and society to function properly and be productive,” he said.

Also being pushed this year is the immediate passage of the CREATE bill.

“MAP is joining at least 30 business organizations in signing within this week the joint statement of support for CREATE and the joint letters to House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and Senate President Vicente Sotto urging them to act quickly on the enactment of CREATE,” he said.

CREATE, when approved into law, would reduce the corporate income tax (CIT) rate to 25 percent from 30 percent.

For small businesses, the CIT rate would be brought down to 20 percent.

The bill would also rationalize fiscal incentives.

Montinola said the CREATE would provide a much needed stimulus to safely reopen the economy.

In the medium term, he said MAP would want the government to promote ease of doing business through digitization efforts and improved public information and communications technology connectivity.

For the environment, he said MAP supports the development of a national capital accounting bill to measure physical units of terrestrial and marine resources of the country.

In education, he said MAP would be working with the Philippine Business for Education to push for the need to address the learning crisis in the country.

He said there is an urgent need to address the learning crisis especially as there is unequal access to education and no clear plan on when students can go back to school safely.