“The impending passage of the Duterte administration’s tax reform bill will boost investor confidence and Philippine economic development,” said Presidential Adviser for Entreprebneurship Joey Concepcion last December 12 at Pandesal Forum of Kamuning Bakery Cafe in Quezon City.Concepcion  said many businessmen are “very bullish”, because the tax reform shall raise revenues to finance the country’s many huge infrastructure projects and social services, thus ensuring the momentum of fast Philippine economic growth in 2018 and beyond. He pointed out the December 11 Fitch upgrade of the Philippines’ sovereign credit rating is a clear indication of the country’s improving international reputation for investors.

Joey Concepcion foresees that with the tax reform and other reform policies, the Philippines in 2018 shall experience a boom in tourism, greater influx of foreign investments, faster implementation of many infrastructures, and more inclusive economic policies such as stronger government support for micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (MSMEs).

Joey Concepcion congratulated President Rody Duterte, his economic managers led by Finance Secretary Sonny Dominguez and legislators led by Senator Sonny Angara for working to pass the  “Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion” (TRAIN), which  is the first package of the comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP) envisioned by President Duterte’s administration to correct a number of deficiencies in the tax system to make it simpler, fairer, and more efficient.

Mr. Joey Concepcion at the Pandesal Forum proposed that the government’s yearly outlay of P60 billion pesos for Conditional Cash Transfer for poor families to be slowly converted into no-interest loans for the poor and for micro-entrepreneurs, because he pointed out that micro-entrepreneurs shall be emancipated from dependence and poverty, and they can employ others. He proposed a gradual shift, like P6 billion pesos a year, not an abrupt total shif

Among the other points of Joey Concepcion at the Pandesal Forum include:

Concepcion foresees faster economic growth, a stock market boom, a great tourism boom and stabilizing Philippine peso of between P49 pesos to maximum of P52 or P53 in year 2018.

Concepcion urged micro, small and medium-scale entrepreneurs to “have optimism about the country, our government leaders and the positive future and many opportunities of the fast-growing Philippine economy”. He also advised MSMEs to be innovative, to take advantage of technologies such as the Internet, to be part of the emerging digital economy.

Concepcion welcomes various business conglomerates’ publicly offering and bidding for proposed new airport projects, and he said private sector participation or partnership with government shall be good. He also said that like the city of Tokyo, Metro Manila can actually  be serviced well by even two new major airports. Concepcion congratulated Ramon Ang’s San Miguel for its new airport servicing Boracay, because it could now accomodate Airbus 320 jets, saying this is great news for Philippine tourists because affluent China and other foreign tourists can now fly direct to Boracay with no need for stopovers in Metro Manila.

Concepcion said the “Build,Build,Build” infrastructure projects starting 2018 shall enhance connectivity of our Philippine archipelago, thus dispersing economic opportunities to far-flung and rural regions. He said the Duterte government’s infrastructures vision is similar and in-sync with China’s “Belt & Road Initiative” for trans-continental infrastructures projects.

On martial law extension in Mindanao, he said President Duterte knows best the actual situation in that region, that his opinion is that any region needs good security situation for economic development and tourism to thrive.

Concepcion  supports Duterte’s vision for federalism, adding that his late maternal grandfather Dr. Salvador Araneta was a proponent of federalism decades ago. He urged our proposed federal government to wisely choose good federal regional leaders but not create “mini-presidents”.

Concepcion welcomes government and private sector moves to upgrade Philippine telecom services, because better Internet will facilitate more e-commerce and digital transactions, especially for the MSMEs nationwide.

On January 7, 2018, Concepcion said he is organizing a meeting of President Duterte with leaders of the Philippines’ top 25 conglomerates to discuss reforms to strengthen the Philippine economy’s fast, inclusive growth and global competitiveness.