THE recently enacted amendment of the Cabotage Law's policy rules and regulations should be implemented without delay, a businessman said.
Vicente T. Lao, chair of the Mindanao Business Council (MinBC), during the press conference of the first Mindanao Policy Research Forum at the Waterfront Insular Hotel on Friday, said that implementation of the amended Cabotage Law should be placed as soon as possible.
The revised law will foster competition among domestic shipping companies in the country and will pave way for lower shipping costs since logistics costs are expected to drop.
"We have been waiting for this amendment for over a years, we hailed the government's move in signing the amendment of this law but the challenge now is when to implement it because as I have been calling the shipping port players they said no implementing guidelines were presented yet," he said adding that they will be pushing for the concerned government agencies to take a move forward towards the implementation of the amendment.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) and Mindanao Development Authority (Minda) had forged partnership as both offices signed on Friday the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) during the first Mindanao Policy Research Forum promoting policy research and knowledge sharing in support of Mindanao's development needs, facilitate access to policy studies and materials produced by higher education institutions (HEIs) in Mindanao.
Also part of the agreement is to launch and establish the Mindanao Knowledge Research and Policy Center (MKRPC).
"Policies should be based on research, we propose for a system that will formalize the review of policies using Regulatory impact assessment (RIA), it is a tool in research that will determine if the policy is beneficial or not. Reviewing the existing policies and regulations and reviewing the proposed policies are essential in Policy regulation," Gilberto Llanto, president of PIDS said.
The research forum carries the theme: "Effective Regulations for Sustainable Growth".
Minda Undersecretary Janet Lopoz said that the partnership will promote the conduct of policy research and other researches in support of Mindanao’s development needs in general.
Lao also said that since a lot of policies that are made tend to be biased against Mindanao, with the agreement by the PIDS and Minda, policies to be implemented will now be more beneficial for the island.//
