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MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will sign an executive order mandating government agencies and local governments to shorten the number of days to issue business permits or licenses to attract more foreign direct investments in the country, Malacañang said on Tuesday.
Undersecretary Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil, the officer in charge of the Office of the Press Secretary, said the EO would mandate concerned government offices to establish a “Green Lane” to expedite and streamline the process and requirements for the issuance of permits and licenses, including resolutions of issues concerning strategic investments.
Garafil said the EO would mandate national government agencies and local governments to act on permit or license applications not longer than three working days for a simple transaction, seven working days for a complex transaction, and 20 working days for highly technical transactions from the date of receipt.
She said the EO would also cover all national government agencies and their regional and provincial offices, local governments, and quasi-judicial bodies involved in issuing permits and licenses necessary for investments in the country.
“That will immediately address concerns about ease of doing business that has always been the complaint about us,” Marcos told trade officials in a meeting in Malacañang on Tuesday.
“You cut it down as much as we can,” the President said, referring to red tape in government.
According to Garafil, the EO will “promote ease of doing business in the Philippines and make it competitive with other Southeast Asian nations in terms of attracting foreign direct investments.”
She said a technical working group headed by the Department of Trade and Industry’s Bureau of Investment would implement the EO and a BOI-Investment Assistance Service would become the single point of entry of investments availing of the Green Lane services endorsed as nationally significant or highly desirable projects.