EO to accelerate Economic and Generate Jobs in Phl inked

President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. will be signing an Executive Order (EO) providing for guidelines to expedite the processing and issuance of permits and licenses for the implementation of strategic investments in the Philippines and creation of a green lane that will translate to more quality jobs for Filipinos. 

In line with the President’s directive on improving the bureaucratic efficiency of the government and to achieve the administration’s 8-point economic agenda, the Department of Trade and Industry and its attached agency—Board of Investments (BOI), proposed the EO for the creation of Green lane and technology-abled One-Stop Action Center for strategic investments. 

The EO is aimed at encouraging investors to engage in Strategic Investments by facilitating and expediting actions related to the application of permits and licenses filed with National Government Agencies (NGAs) and their regional and provincial offices and Local Government Units (LGUs). Further, it contains a provision that mandates NGAs and LGUs to simultaneously process applications for permits and licenses with the presumption that  relevant documents from other agencies have already been issued. 

Relative to this, the applicant shall execute an affidavit of undertaking that it has secured the relevant documents from specific NGAs or LGUs and/or that it shall submit the complete documentary requirements within 30 working days. 

DTI Secretary Fred Pascual said in a statement that “This Executive Order will be in complementary with the functions of the Anti-Red Tape Authority. Through this and with the help of ARTA especially in streamlining government procedures, we will create a more favorable business ecosystem in the country by ensuring that investors who are planning to expand in the Philippines will go through seamless application processes. Once this is done, we expect that more jobs will be generated for our kababayans, especially in less developed areas.” 

Other key features of the proposed EO are the single point of entry for Strategic Investments availing of the Green Lane services with dedicated accounts officers designated to specific strategic investments for monitoring purposes. Further, periodic reporting to the President of the Philippines will be done on the designation and endorsement of Strategic Investments and the progress made in its implementation. These updates shall be regularly reported to the Cabinet at an interval to be determined by the Presidential Management Staff (PMS).