Monthly Archives: September 2019

PCCI, GGAPP MOA Signing On Good Governance

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Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) President Alegria S. Limjoco and Good Governance Advocates and Practitioners of the Philippines (GGAPP) President Reginal Tiu sign the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that aims to introduce and promote ethical business and professional conduct particularly to SMEs.

PCCI, an accredited Institutional Training Provider (ITP) by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has forged partnership with GGAPP to develop, implement and offer a continuing program on good Corporate Governance. Witnessing the signing are PCCI Corporate Governance Committee Director-in-charge Edgardo G. Lacson; PCCI CG Chairman Ryan Patrick Evangelista and trustees of GGAPP.

On April 4, PCCI will have its first public seminar on the basic concepts of corporate governance and emergent issues on data privacy act, cybersecurity and digitization. Interested parties may inquire at 8468196 local 124 or visit our website at www.philippinechamber.com

Government Pursues North Philippine Dry Port Project (Project Seen To Improve Transport And Logistic

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Envisioning an efficient transport and logistics sector, the Philippine government is set to pursue a container rail transport service from Manila Port to a North Philippine Dry Port. The project seeks to revive freight rail service using the Philippine National Railways spur lines in the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Tarlac.

A feasibility study to assess the viability of moving containerized cargoes via railway, and to determine the location for the dry port as well as the required facilities is being conducted by the Joint Venture of Systra Philippines, Inc. (SPI) and MRAIL, Inc. (MRAIL).

Preliminary assessments have identified potential locations in Balagtas, Bulacan; Clark, Pampanga; and Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija due to their proximity to existing PNR lines.

Systra-MRAIL has proposed three phases for the project.

Phase one will be the construction of Balagtas Dry Port, which will serve as the terminal for bulk goods and a loading or unloading area of containerized cargoes. Phase two will be the development of Clark Dry Port to complement the Subic-Clark Railway Project and Clark Logistics Terminal and Depot Complex. In the future, if the government has determined sufficient cargo demand going further north, another dry port may be established in Cabanatuan, San Jose or Cagayan Valley.

Initial assessment, the rail line going to Balagtas will run on a single track with two locomotives per train that can carry 21 wagons with a capacity of 42 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs). If the line is extended to Clark, additional trains will have a total capacity of 45 wagons or 90 TEUs.

According to Systra-MRAIL, the dry port can offer value added services such as bagging, packaging, labelling, veterinary inspections, warehousing (CFS), light manufacturing, assembly, and container-related services among others.

The feasibility study is expected to be completed in November 2019.

The business sector welcomes the proposed project as Region 3 hosts three of the big free ports in the country – Clark, Subic, and Bataan. An estimated 500,000 TEUs from the North Luzon area go to Manila just to use shipping lines facilities. The railway will be able to decongest the roads from cargo trucks plying Manila. ¬— Jeanne Aramae Cruz, Advocacy and Research

JULY 24-25 2019 Sustainable Agriculture Forum

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Almost 200 stakeholders from the agriculture sector composed of agribusiness entrepreneurs, government workers and business employers across the region participated in the two-day forum on Sustainable Agriculture held last July 24-25, 2019 at the Marriott Grand Ballroom, Pasay City. The event was organized by the European Chamber of Commerce (ECCP), in partnership with the European Union (EU), International Labour Organization (ILO), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) and the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry ([PCCI).

With the theme “Towards a Sustainable and Responsible Agricultural Supply Chain”, the forum discussed issues and recommendations concerning the competitiveness, sustainability, and inclusiveness of Philippine agriculture. Additionally, gaps and opportunities in the sector were identified as well through the speakers who presented their perspectives from the legislative, international, farming, and local business entities.

Sen. Cynthia Villar shared 16 significant bills that have made immense impacts on Philippine agriculture. These include the Sugarcane Industry Development Act (2015), Farm Tourism Law (2016), Philippine Halal Export Development and Promotion Act (2016), and the Anti-Agricultural Smuggling Act (2016) among others. Interestingly, Dr. Ernesto Ordoñez, Chairperson of Alyansa Agrikultura, also called for a “Grow, Grow, Grow” program inspired by PRRD’s “Build, Build, Build” program stating that enhancing agriculture is just as important as building infrastructure.

PCCI President Alegria S. Limjoco, in her remarks at the Technical Seminar on the Implementation of International Expectations and Standards on Corporate Social Responsibility/Responsible Business Conduct (CSR/RBC), shared PCCI’s own initiative called ASPIRE or the Agribusiness Support for the Promotion and Investment in Regional Expo (ASPIRE), a collaborative program with the Department of Agriculture (DA) and Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) that provides capacity building and business matching session to farmers and agribusiness entrepreneurs. This process directly links famers to the market (buyers) and end users.

“ASPIRE has been going around the regions capacitating our farmers with the right information as well as linking them directly to prospective buyers because we want to help them secure the market,” Limjoco said.

Ms. Limjoco also said that PCCI has been working closely with the Philippine Franchising Association (PFA) to ensure that food franchisors will create more brands and put value in their products that are being produced by our farmers and fishermen. PCCI is also working alongside with the Philippine Board of Investments (BOI) to create incentives for inclusive businesses.

The two-day 2019 Sustainable Agriculture Forum concluded that it is through due diligence, policy coherence, and government transparency that CSR/RBC could be promoted in the global supply chains. Improving the organizational infrastructure of PhilMech, Land Bank, and PhilRice, increasing government guarantee coverage for agri-credit, and organizing trade in commercial areas are some of the many recommendations to make Philippine agriculture competitive, sustainable, and inclusive. — Anya Cruz, Advocacy, Research and Corporate Communication