"x x x.
Signed by Mr. Duterte and Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea on Feb. 28, Memorandum Order (MO) No. 12 directs all agencies to issue the necessary regulations to ensure the IPP’s implementation in a “synchronized and integrated manner,” with the order due to take effect on March 18.
x x x.
The 2017 IPP will count as “preferred” investment areas:
• manufacturing including agri-processing;
• agriculture, fishery and forestry;
• strategic services;
• infrastructure and logistics including local government unit public-private partnerships;
• health care services including drug rehabilitation;
• mass housing;
• inclusive business models;
• environment and climate change;
• innovation drivers;
• energy.
Also deemed priorities are:
• export businesses including services, activities in support of exporters, and production and manufacture of export products;
• activities based on special laws that grant incentives like Republic Act (RA) No. 7942 or the Philippine Mining Act of 1995, RA 9513 or the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 and RA 9593 or the Tourism Act of 2009, among others;
• and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.
Moreover, the new IPP reduces the price ceiling for BoI-registered mass housing units to P2 million from P3 million previously. And -- except for in-city low-cost housing for lease -- only projects located outside Metro Manila may qualify for investment perks.
In a statement on Monday, BoI said the IPP is expected to generate more investment to strengthen “manufacturing resurgence” as targeted in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2017-2022.
The IPP was also “formulated through a participative, analytical, and multi-sector process,” BoI said, adding that the agency is now in the process of finalizing the “general policies and specific guidelines” of the IPP.
“This development is concrete proof of the administration’s decisiveness to further propel the growth of investments and job generation in the country and attain sustainable economic growth,” Mr. Lopez was quoted as saying in the statement.
Last month, Trade Undersecretary and BoI Managing Head Ceferino S. Rodolfo said manufacturing projects that will qualify for perks will be spelled out in the IPP’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR).
There, the BoI will specify criteria that manufacturers need to meet to qualify for incentives, such as requirements on employment generation, investment and technology transfer.
x x x."
