MARAWI
CITY, Lanao del Sur, May 14 (PIA) --- Registered firms in the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) have expressed fear that a
diluted Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) could bring forth a weak ‘autonomy’
and undermine the investment climate in the region.
The group
tackled the possible effects of the passage of the BBL to the current
investments in the region in a meeting on 12 May of the Promotion of
Investment Sustainability Organization (PISO), a newly created advisory
body composed of registered firms in the ARMM and headed by the Regional
Board of Investments (RBOI).
Lawyer Ishak Mastura, RBOI
Chairperson and managing head, said “if there will be changes to the
BBL, it should not lessen the ARMM ‘autonomy’ but should seek to improve
the investment-friendly environment of the region.”
He
further said that “the only way to have stability of investment policy
for private sector development in the region is to make sure that the
level of autonomy currently being experienced in the ARMM is not
lessened or reduced by the proposed changes to the BBL.”
Mastura urged both houses of Congress not to lose sight of the ease of doing business in the ARMM.
He
said new measures that will be introduced in the region must encourage
more private sector development and not unduly burden them.
Investors
in the ARMM currently enjoy the convenience of getting their permits,
licenses, approvals, administrative consents and their regulatory
framework directly from the Autonomous Regional Government without the
need to go national agencies in Manila or to their regional
administrative offices.
The ARMM has recorded a steady influx of
multi-billion investments since 2013. The RBOI registered P1.46 billion
worth of investments in 2013 and the number doubled the following year
with P3.86 billion total investments.
In the first quarter of
2015, RBOI registered P863 million. The agency is expecting to sustain
or even exceed last year’s investments.
Mastura said the
increasing trend in investments in ARMM is largely attributed to the
favorable outcome of the peace process between the Philippine government
and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the continuing
governance reform of the region under the present
administration. (Bureau of Public Information-ARMM/APB/PIA-10)
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