Ten reforms for growth acceleration
ENERGY, INFRA AND ECONOMICS - Bienvenido Oplas Jr. - The Philippine Star
January 22, 2026 | 12:00am
https://www.philstar.com/business/2026/01/22/2502546/ten-reforms-growth-acceleration
Those with Q1-Q3 data and registered fast growth are: Taiwan (7.1 percent), Indonesia and Philippines (five percent). All G7 member-countries with Q1-Q3 data registered low growth: US (2.1 percent), Canada (two percent), Japan (1.6 percent), UK (1.5 percent), France (0.9 percent), Italy (0.6 percent) and Germany (0.3 percent).
So we are still in a community of dynamic and fast-growing neighbors. The Philippines aspiring for five to six percent growth this year is still realistic.
Last week, the economic team met with many business leaders and introduced a new branding for the Philippines called “Big Bold Reforms” or BBR. The BBR are moves to transition the Philippine economy from consumption-led to investment-led powerhouse and join the Asian “Tiger Club.”
I find those reforms by different departments and agencies as sensical and realistic. Below, the first seven are contained in the various reports about BBR, the last three are my observations and addition.
One, “Zero Lag” mandate. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has slashed corporate registration time from several days to just 1.6 hours through its new OneSEC platform. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has institutionalized strict, time-bound windows for environmental compliance certificates (ECCs) – 20 days for non-critical projects and 40 days for critical ones – processed via a fully digital system.
Two, the Blockchain Pivot and CADENA Act. The Citizen Access and Disclosure of Expenditures for National Accountability (CADENA) bill aims to encode transparency toward “Information Integrity” from simple digitalization into more disclosure, transparent decentralization of government records. The CADENA bill is projected to be a law this year, it will mandate the disclosure of documents across the entire national budget cycle. The Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) ensures that this system will utilize blockchain technology.
Three, the National Single Window (NSW) for trade. This is slated for a Q2 launch this year. The NSW unifies trade requirements into a single portal, utilizing data-driven accountability to eliminate the bureaucratic runaround that importers and exporters have long endured.
Four, rural infrastructure as anti-inflationary measure. The Department of Agriculture is now overseeing the construction of 2,200 kilometers of farm-to-market roads and new deep-water ports specifically for agri products. Philippine inflation has been wrestled down from 3.2 percent in 2024 to a manageable 1.7 percent in 2025. By building cold storage facilities to arrest post-harvest spoilage and streamlining the supply chain.
Five, procurement reforms. The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is now enforcing beneficial ownership disclosure rules as mandated by RA 12009. By requiring the disclosure of ultimate beneficial owners, the state is preventing the use of “dummy” contractors and hidden interests in public bidding, ensuring that the billions of pesos in infrastructure spending actually reach the ground.
Six, energy security. A new natural gas discovery in Malampaya East-1, about five kilometers east of the existing Malampaya gas resource offshore of Palawan should fall in this category. The new discovery is equivalent to around 14 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. This was announced by the President himself and the Department of Energy only this week. We should have more indigenous oil and gas, not less.
Seven, fiscal consolidation. The Department of Finance has aligned its metrics with global standards, shifting focus to the General Government Debt-GDP ratio. Currently standing at around 55 percent of GDP, which is below the IMF’s 70 percent danger threshold. So there is fiscal space to fund various reforms and infrastructure development without jeopardizing its credit ratings, which remain stable across S&P, Moody’s and Fitch.
Eight, the Philippine-UAE CEPA. The recent visit of President Marcos to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the signing of the Phl-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is big, the first free trade deal by the Philippines with a Middle East country, and a very rich one. UAE has six of the richest sovereign wealth funds (SWF) in the world with combined assets of $2.3 trillion, which is 1,000 times larger than our Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF). So aside from easier trade, investment collaboration between MIF and any of their six SWF is easier under the CEPA.
Nine, tourism liberalization and trade consolidation with Asia. Last week the Department of Foreign Affairs moved for visa-free tourism for China mainland visitors for visits up to 14 days under a few requirements. This is a good move, many of our ASEAN neighbors have this policy much earlier. Also this is consistent with our trade, almost 29 percent of our total merchandise imports are from China, which has been consistently rising from 20 percent of total imports in 2022, 23 percent in 2023 and 26 percent in 2024.
Ten, interest rate cut. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has taken a good cue from our declining inflation and cut policy rates from a high of 6.5 percent until July 2024 to 5.25 percent in July 2025, and further down to 4.5 percent last December. It will further decline to around 4.25 percent this coming February.
The Philippines’ chairmanship of the ASEAN this year is good timing for the BBR and related reforms towards more liberalization in trade, tourism and investment. Another reason why war-mongering over disputed areas in the sea should be tamed. Growth acceleration, peace and prosperity, We should have them, this year and beyond.
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