business

Senate Bill No. 692: Corporation Code

The Philippines is enjoying the best economic growth it has seen in years and has deemed to be a rising star in the region. But the challenge remains to enhance the local markets and business environment in order for investments to continuously come in. Updating pertinent laws is needed to keep up with the fast-changing business landscape and sustain this unprecedented progress.

This measure seeks to introduce key amendments to Batas Pambansa Blg. 68 or the Corporation Code, which was passed in 1980 or more than three decades ago.

Two key provisions aim to address the needs of entrepreneurs in the country.

Firstly, a sole proprietor presently needs to have incorporators of five to fifteen individuals to be able to register with the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). The policy has created cases for dummy incorporators.

In addition, sole proprietorship exposes all the properties of the entrepreneur for the business’ liabilities. Such exposure risks all of the assets of the proprietor, even his family’s properties.

To address these, this measure recommends the recognition of the one-person corporation to encourage entrepreneurs to declare truthful and transparent information about their businesses, limit liabilities and spare family assets, and further grow their businesses.

Secondly, the law currently provides for a limited corporate term of 50 years maximum. Many big firms forget to renew after 50 years and they end up dissolving the company, liquidating their assets and transferring their properties. This unfortunate event leads to loss of income and livelihood for families, and the loss of legacy and dreams for entrepreneurs and employees.

The bill seeks to allow corporations to have perpetual corporation existence but with renewal requirements every 25 years. Failure to comply with the requirements will not end corporate existence but penalties will be imposed. It allows a corporation to develop long-term plans and to look into more sustainable and far-reaching strategies for more economic growth.

 

Other related provisions have been proposed to make the policy relevant and attuned to present times, adopt global best practices, attract more investments and start-ups in the country and specifically address the needs of entrepreneurs.

In view of the foregoing, immediate approval of this bill is earnestly sought.


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Senate Bill No. 707: National Quality Infrastructure Act

This bill seeks to facilitate the development of a culture of quality through providing a sound and effective National Quality Infrastructure that allows the development and compliance with increasing quality requirements and that can support the national authorities in their mandates for consumer protection, free trade, environmental protection and other societal objectives from a technical point of view.

With the imminent development of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2016, the capacity of the country to develop more competitive products, services and systems and to support industries to show compliance with both internal and external market requirements is a top priority to take full advantage of trade flows in terms of socioeconomic growth.

While the country is making great progress in many competitiveness and ease of doing business indicators, there is still substantial room for improvement, particularly when it comes to facilitating the access of Philippine MSMEs to foreign markets (the 12th edition of the Doing Business Reports shows the need for improvement in the trading across borders dimension).

A critical aspect of technical development and market access is the capacity of the country to implement and show compliance with mandatory and voluntary technical requirements. Technical compliance is supported by a number of interlinked activities, many of them of voluntary nature, which are usually collectively referred to as the National Quality Infrastructure. This includes standardization, accreditation, and metrology.

The need for a coordinated quality infrastructure has been already identified in the Philippines Development Plan 2011-2016: The government shall set up a National Quality Infrastructure to integrate and coordinate a series of activities involving metrology, standardization, testing, and accreditation and certification.

The reason for the existence of the National quality Infrastructure is to have the necessary institutions and practices that allow the different stakeholders to develop and show compliance with technical requirements and strive for increasingly higher levels of quality beyond the mandatory accepted level set out in technical regulations. Therefore it is not only a resource for more competitive products and services, but it is also used by government to support the definition of and compliance with safety, health, fair trade and consumer/environment protection and is used by Government in its dual roles of public purchaser and as overseer of service providers in both the public and private areas.

While the country has already a number of Republic Acts addressing the need for institutions and practices dealing with Consumer Protection, including the usage if National Quality Infrastructure that also address the need to support the Philippine economy in developing products, services and systems of quality levels beyond the mandatory requirements set out in technical regulations. 

Based on all existing institutions mandated to develop National Quality Infrastructure related activities, and on the need to increase coordination amongst them, the need for greater ownership by the private sector in contributing to the governance and strategy of those activities, and the need to promote increasing levels of quality for products, services and systems, there is an urgent need to create a national vision of the quality infrastructure for the country. 

In view of the foregoing, the approval of this measure is earnestly sought. 

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Senate Bill No. 355: Charter of the Philippine Trade Representative Office

The Center for Global Development in Washington D.C. ranked the Philippines as the most resilient economy among 21 countries studied. Our island nation ranked number one above South Korea and China, second and third respectively.fi]

The country is also considered among the most entrepreneurial countries in the world in a report produced by Approved Index.[2]

The Philippines is now considered a highly competitive player in the market of foreign direct investments thanks to our robust economy and the great potential of our workforce.

In 2014, our country’s net foreign direct investments reached a record-breaking 6.2 billion U.S. dollars – a stark improvement from our 2010 net FDI of 1.07 billion U.S. dollars.[4]

To maintain this competitiveness, we need to improve trade negotiation and facilitation and ensure that we have a cohesive and coherent trade policy that upholds the country’s national interest.

The Charter of the Philippine Trade Representative Office kick-starts this initiative by creating the Philippine Trade Representative Office or PTRO. The PTRO is tasked to consolidate and harmonize all existing functions from various government agencies such as the Bureau of International Trade Relations under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Attaches and Permanent Missions to the World Trade Organization (WTO), Association o f Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and United Nations International Organization (UNIO), and the trade negotiating and policy making functions of the Tariff and Related Matters Committee (TRMC). This is in order to enhance the formulation of domestic and national priorities that should drive our trade positions and negotiations.

The PTRO shall also form the Multi-Sectoral Advisory Committee (MSAC) that will compose members from both government and civil society, including representatives from the agriculture industry, labor sector, small business, service sectors, retailers and consumer groups, to advice the office on trade matters in relation to the country’s achievement of its economic goals.

Our country is now open for business. Let’s pass the Charter of the Philippine Trade Representative Office to bolster our positions and voice in the international trade community.

In view of the foregoing, the approval of this bill is earnestly sought.

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Senate Bill No. 349: Inclusive Business Promotion Act

In the recently concluded Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation or APEC Summit held in the Manila, we had the first ever high-level discussion on Inclusive Business, which promoted the idea of companies taking part in development, not just through philanthropy but also through their products and supply chains.

Under this inclusive business umbrella are social enterprises as well as large corporations that utilize their products, services, or even their supply chains to help poor communities create a sustainable industry and become financially successful.

This concept of business taking part in nation-building and social development is finally catching on and all over the world, allies in the fight against poverty have found an effective weapon – conscientious entrepreneurship – to beat poverty and create prosperity.

There is no better time than now to establish policies in support of this movement.

“Inclusive Business (IB),” as defined in this measure, refers to “a business approach that provides decent work and economic opportunities or relevant and affordable goods or services for poor and low income and/or marginalized sectors of society by making them part of the organization’s core operations as producers, consumers, workers, owners or business partners, directly contributing to improved living standards, poverty reduction and systemic inclusion in a manner that is sustainable, in scale or scalable, and replicable.”

The Inclusive Business Bill provides for the establishment of a national strategy for the promotion of Inclusive Businesses to be implemented by a new office, the Inclusive Business Center. The bill also provides policies for IB accreditation, and providing support and incentives for IBs and their community partners, including social enterprises.

A key strategy for providing sustainable livelihood and reducing poverty, especially in the countryside, is by integrating poor communities as suppliers of goods and/or services in the value chain of large businesses.

Inclusive Business companies can serve to link poor communities to more viable markets, enhancing economic opportunities and sources of income, and enabling them level up from subsistence livelihood.

Let us enjoin the private sector to take part in the creating shared prosperity in our nation.

In view of the foregoing, that passage of this bill is earnestly sought.  

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