Government think-tank Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) has urged for a strong government support, including the grant of fiscal and non —fiscal incentives, to 15 industries to revive the domestic manufacturing sector.
In a presentation at the Automotive Forum held recently in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, PIDS vice-president Dr. Rafaelita Aldaba has identified 15 industries for upgrading. These are automotive, motorcycle, shipbuilding, chemicals and allied industries, electronics, electrical appliances, garment, textiles, copper, food/agri-business, pulp and paper, rubber, furniture, jewelry, and iron and steel. Aldaba said these sectors were chosen for strong government intervention because of their strong potential to generate employment, addressing missing gaps and linkages and spill-over effects, level of product sophistication, and competitive market environment. The Aldaba study has identified several intervention measures for each of these domestic industries. On the automotive and motorcycle manufacturing sectors, Aldaba said that in order to rebuild the domestic market, the grant of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives is necessary. Among others, incentive package is also needed to attract investments in supporting industries (die making, precision machining), capacity building and HRD programs. Other measures needed by domestic industries include consistent set of investment policies for construction, auto appliance, shipbuilding; institutional mechanism to fully integrate copper industry; creation of supply hubs for raw and natural materials for the furniture sector; full integration of industry upstream-mining, reliable supply of iron ore and coal; access to raw material base, development of massive tree plantations and commercial agro forestry integrated with virgin wood pulp production to support the paper industry; and, institutional mechanism to fully integrate the copper industry; access to financing for SMEs.
