Daily Tribune‘The current administration also set up PSAC, or the Private Sector Advisory Council, but it’s quite not the same because the focus of the competitive commission was benchmarking Philippine performance with the rest of the world’
Trade group Makati Business Club, or MBC, wanted the Anti-Red Tape Authority, or ARTA, to include private-sector advisors and to further reach out to local government units for faster development of the business community and overall economic growth.
MBC chairman Edgar Chua said the Marcos administration can adopt the mechanism of the Philippine Competitiveness Commission, which was created under the term of former President Benigno Aquino III but was scrapped by the succeeding administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.
"The current administration also set up PSAC, or the Private Sector Advisory Council, but it's quite not the same because the focus of the competitive commission was benchmarking Philippine performance with the rest of the world," Chua said.
Balanced membership
Members of the commission were equally divided into the government sector and the private sector to ensure diverse insights and strategies.
This means close monitoring of competitiveness indices worldwide which include intangible socioeconomic aspects, such as corruption in government, education and health.
Chua, who was included in the commission, said the ARTA can also assure the public of transparency about the conditions of the business community by collaborating with the private sector.
"I think that was the beauty of that, so I hope ARTA will get advice and feedback from the private sector in a similar way under the commission," he said at a recent forum by Stratbase ADR Institute.
"It will not be self-serving because in government, you tend to show only the good things. I think the private sector will provide balance," Chua continued.
ARTA was created under the Duterte administration to implement laws on ease of doing business, such as digitalization of government transactions.
PSAC, on the other hand, consists of business leaders who deal in digital infrastructure and agriculture, apart from other basic public services.
However, Chua said the commission was also aggressive on finding ways to reform local government units or LGUs, which may be different from PSAC that tends to look at socioeconomic growth on an industry-wide and national scope.
