CDC leads gov’t IPA’s committee to formulate investment strategies

CLARK FREEPORT –This Freeport zone has been selected to lead the steering committee composed of a network of government Investment Promotion Agencies (IPAs) tasked to formulate and develop investment strategies to position the Philippines as among the prime investment destinations in Asia.

In a press statement, Clark Development Corp. (CDC) President Benigno N. Ricafort was said to have been selected to chair the steering committee during the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) by IPA heads and first organizational meeting of the steering committee presided by Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Secretary Peter Favila.

Quoting the recently signed MOA, Mr. Ricafort said “there is a need to formulate the Philippine Investments Promotions Plan (PIPP) to serve as guide towards harmonizing the policy-making, planning and programming of promotional strategies, programs and projects of the various IPAs.”

According to the MOA, “the PIPP will serve as blueprint for creating a world-class brand image for the country based on promotional approaches of image building, investment generation, and investment producing.”

CDC Assistant Vice President for Investment and Promotions Bernardo Angeles, Jr. said the PIPP is expected to produce a contingency plan to address measures on how to lessen the impact of the global crisis by redirecting investment efforts to countries that have strong Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) potentials, among others.

Mr. Angeles added that the PIPP is also expected to formulate a strategy paper for the Japanese Investment Market where IPAs can align the various trade agreements entered into by the Philippines and Japan.

This component is timely and can serve as benchmark for other strategies to take advantage of economic opportunities derived from multilateral, regional and bilateral trade and investment engagements.

Mr. Angeles noted that the PIPP, the government’s mid-term investment plan, is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in cooperation with the DTI and the Nakamura Research Institute.

He added that the PIPP scorecard is expected to be completed by early 2010.

A contingency paper, Mr. Angeles furthered, will touch on concerted efforts of IPAs to promote the Philippines as an investment destination. The contingency plan stressed the need to create a comprehensive investment portal that would integrate information on all national and sub-national IPAs in the country.

Among the promotional tools that will be the proposed is the combined website of all investment promotions agencies and production of joint promotion collaterals.

Also, a directory of registered companies under the consolidation and dissemination of investment information program will be part of the proposed contingency plan, Mr. Angeles said.

Meanwhile, the Finance department has also chosen the CDC to be one of the members of the team tasked to formulate Government Owned and/or Controlled Corporations (GOCCs) Corporate Governance roadmap and scorecard.

In a letter to Mr. Ricafort , Finance Undersecretary Jeremias N. Paul, Jr. said the state-owned CDC will be part of a working session that aims to improve the Corporate Governance (CG) scorecard by incorporating operational and financial performance indicators in the questionnaires.

CDC was chosen because of the results of the recent Corporate Governance Scorecard questionnaires among government corporations.

Also, the CDC ‘codified’ the basic principles of Good Public Corporate Governance, which is a response to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s thrust for a strong Philippine Republic by promoting government accountability and responsibility.

The formulation of CDC’s Code of Public Corporate Governance was approved by the CDC Board on April 27, 2009.

The working session, dubbed “Walking our Talk,” is set on Nov. 18 to 20, 2009 at the Bohol Beach Club, Panglao Island in Bohol.

According to Paul, “Walking our Talk” is an offshoot of the success of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) 10th Asian Roundtable on Corporate Governance held last month where the DOF was one of the co-host.

Paul added that the working session also hopes to achieve the DOF’s objective of advancing CG practices “forward, beyond mere compliance.”

Also, Paul said the GOCC Model Code of CG will be presented during the working session for further comments and suggestions.

Earlier, Dr. Jesus P. Estanislao, chairman of the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD), informed Paul that the ICD is proposing to adopt in parallel a “Team Philippines” Corporate Governance Roadmap and Scorecard for the next 10 years, hence the working session in Bohol.

“We plan to have a very productive session crafting Team Philippines, ’ common vision, integrated strategies, objectives and initiatives,” said Dr. Estanislao in his letter to Paul. Rey Garcia