In line with the aggressive thrust of the administration in promoting the ease of doing business and making the country more competitive in attracting investments, the Board of Investments (BOI), as the country’s lead investments and primary promotion agency, is taking another step towards strengthening the collaboration between different executive departments and bureaus. The stage is all set with the signing of the amended, newly-enhanced Investments Promotion Units Network Memorandum of Agreement (IPU Net MOA) on 10 July 2019 at the BOI AVR, Penthouse, Industry and Investments Building, 385 Sen. Gil J. Puyat Avenue in Makati City.
The BOI, along with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Investments Ombudsman (IO) and Civil Service Commission (CSC) are among the thirty-seven (37) identified government agencies and represented no less than by their respective heads are expected to participate and renew their commitment to further improve the business climate with the IPU Net MOA Signing. Once the MOA is in place, the delivery of frontline government services will be monitored by the Anti-Red Tape Authority (ARTA) to ensure that delays and hindrances among business transactions and other related cases are immediately addressed.
The IPU Net MOA is aligned with the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 (Republic Act No. 11032) and as part of its mandate, ARTA will see to it that that government agencies comply by processing simple business transactions within three (3) days, complex processes within 7 (seven) days and highly technical ones within twenty (20) days.
“The IPU Net MOA complements the Ease of Doing Business Law. That is why the BOI and other related government agencies took upon themselves to ensure that investment related issues, concerns and queries (ICQs) are acted upon in the soonest time possible. This will further expedite the processing of applications for permits, licenses and other requests. With the signing of the newly enhanced Agreement, the agencies involved can now make a bigger difference that matter in the business climate,” Trade Undersecretary and BOI Managing Head Ceferino Rodolfo said.
He added that “transparency and a closer collaboration and coordination among each other will trigger more investments into the country by providing government services that are at par with international standards.”
Due to the big increase in investment over the last three years more investment-related issues and concerns were raised to BOI, thus the importance of widening the scope of the MOA became a priority for the IPU Net by involving more agencies to provide a more expansive investments facilitation service.
Since 25 April 2007, the IPUNet MOA has been a commitment from among the original twenty-seven (27) government agencies to sustain the efforts of the government in facilitating issues and concerns with prompt actions, streamlining of procedures and establishing a seamless coordination among its members to provide resolution on all investment-related transactions with efficiency. Since then, it has ballooned to 37 agencies involved.♦
Date of Release: 8 July 2019