Speaker lauds PBBM for giving House role in promoting investments

By Maricel V. Cruz

SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin G.

Romualdez on Friday expressed his gratitude to President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. for acknowledging the critical role of Congress in promoting the Philippines as an ideal investment destination to create more job opportunities for the Filipino workforce.

Romualdez was part of the official delegation of Pres. Marcos on his three- day state visit to Malaysia, which yielded up to US$285 in investment pledges expected to create over 100,000 jobs.

“We are grateful to President Marcos for citing the key legislations we had passed and the critical need for collaboration between the Executive and the Legislative in making the Philippines a more investor-friendly place,” Romualdez said.

“This motivates us even more in the House of Representatives to redouble our efforts at passing the remaining pri- ority bills before the end of 2023, which are needed to sustain our robust economic growth and enhance our competitiveness to draw in more investments that would mean more jobs and livelihood for our people,” he added.

Romualdez was referring to the remarks of President Marcos during his Roundtable Meeting with Malaysian top business leaders where the Chief Executive cited his administration’s investor-friendly policies and programs.

The President noted that more sectors have been opened up for foreign ownership through the passage of the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, the Foreign Investments Act, the Public Services Act (PSA), and the Renewable Energy (RE) Act.

In addition, Pres. Marcos pointed out that corporate taxation has become more business-friendly with lowered tax rates and improved mechanisms for tax and tax incentives.