A move to institutionalize business permit and licensing offices (BPLOs) is underway to improve ease of doing business and encourage more foreign investments, according to a high-ranking official at the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev).

On the sidelines of the launch of the OECD Survey on the Philippines at the Department of Finance (DOF) on Thursday, DEPDev Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon told journalists this is among the measures currently being looked into as the government continues to address bottlenecks in business processes.

Edillon said BPLOs, which are under the jurisdiction of local governments, do not have dedicated personnel that have permanent government positions to work for the office and instead have officer-designate and staff.

She underscored the need to have legislation that would ensure proper staffing positions and mandated tasks.

Edillon said a study has been made by the National Innovation Council for this, and discussions with a possible proponent have begun.

Once the proposed measure materializes, it will address a lot of the issues, she added.

Digitalization will also help ease the burden of securing permits and other requirements, Edillon said, citing the experiences of some local governments with online application, renewal, and payment.

“Hopefully, we can get these things done within this administration,” she said. “We want this, again, to be an end-to-end, seamless transaction.”

This assurance was made following the release of the results of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) survey, indicating that the Philippines has restrictive economic policies compared to its neighboring countries.

OECD Secretary General Mathias Cormann said the impact of these policies may have been shadowed by the robust growth of the domestic economy in the past, but will be a burden going forward.

“Foreign ownership restrictions have recently been eased somewhat, but abusive burdens continue to act as de facto barriers to foreign investment. Establishing a single window platform for foreign investment with streamlined procedures, strict turnaround times, and digital tracking would significantly improve the investment climate,” he said.

Cormann said regulatory barriers are higher in some key sectors of the Philippine economy, especially telecommunications and electricity.

“And there is real scope to improve policy settings, to improve the competitiveness of those markets,” he added. (PNA)