Bongbong Marcos’ tall order to economic team: Cut red tape in business

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos greets people as he leaves the JG Summit Petrochemicals manufacturing complex in Batangas province on Friday, January 19, 2024. In a speech at the event, Marcos Jr. ordered his administration’s economic team to cut red tape in business, saying it hinders national progress. INQUIRER.net / Jean Mangaluz

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has ordered his administration’s economic team to cut red tape in business.

In a speech at the inauguration of the newly expanded JG Summit Petrochemicals manufacturing complex in Batangas on Friday, the President said red tape hinders national progress.

Marcos also revealed that his economic team, which includes Finance Secretary Ralph Recto and investment czar Frederick Go, was tasked to create an environment for economic growth, boost incentives, promote ease of doing business, and fund infrastructure.

“The bottom line of their assigned mission is this: To reduce red tape that chokes industry and innovation and replace it with a red carpet that ushers in the capital, foreign and domestic, and provides the path towards progress,” he said.

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“It is my firm belief that the government should not be a yoke on the back of business, like taxing them heavily and tightly regulating their growth, making the ease of doing business a sticking point for possible investors,” he said.

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Marcos also took the opportunity to apologize to the Gokongwei Group, owner of the JG Summit Petrochemicals, for appointing Go and other business experts to the government.

“I must apologize, I suppose, to the Gokongwei Group for taking away and pirating their – headhunting some of their best talent,” he said.