Members of the Investments Promotion Unit Network (IPUNET)—a group of 28 government agencies in charge of further supporting ease of doing business in the country as a way to complement the efforts of investment promotion agencies (IPAs) in promoting the Philippines as an investment destination of choice, renewed their commitment to further strengthen cooperation in facilitating issues and concerns of local and foreign investors during the group’s year-end meeting recently (December 19, 2017).

In the meeting, the attendees agreed to amend the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) signed by all member agencies back in April 2007 to include provisions for greater accountability in facilitating and resolving investment-related issues. The IPUNET will convene a meeting to sign the revised MOA tentatively on the first quarter of 2018.

“The move to amend the MOA is a welcome development. This is expected to enhance cooperation and coordination efforts among government agencies which is crucial for existing and potential investors,” said Board of Investments (BOI) Director for Investments Assistance Domingo Bagaporo who chaired the IPUNET meeting.

The December 2017 meeting is especially meaningful to the group as this marked the 10th Founding Year of the IPUNET. Since its founding in 2007, the IPUNET facilitated all of the issues and concerns of investors ranging from policy and guidelines, follow-ups on pending applications and requests, importation and inquiry about the legitimacy of companies.

In photo: BOI Director for Investment Assistance and IPUNET Chair Domingo I. Bagaporo (seated, first row, sixth from the left), DILG-Bureau of Local Government Development Director Anna Liza F. Bonagua (seated, first row, fourth from left), CSC Director Maria Luisa Salonga-Agamata (seated, first row, fifth from left), BIR Director Beverly S. Milo (seated, first row, third from the right), NICA Director Rodolfo Dan Arzaga Jr. (standing, second row, fourth from left), SEC Director Ferdinand B. Sales (standing, second row, fifth from right) and the rest of the representatives of IPUNET member agencies during the December 2017 meeting.

Member agencies of the IPUNET include BOI, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Bureau of Customs (BOC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Bureau of Immigration (BI), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Civil Service Commission (CSC), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Finance (DOF), Department of Foreign Affairs (DOF), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Department of Tourism (DOT), Department of Transportation (DOTr), Housing Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB), Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA), National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP), National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), Office of the Ombudsman, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The BOI, the country’s lead IPA, serves as secretariat of the group.♦