Senate approves bill extending foreigner land leases to 99 years
The Senate approved a bill on Monday extending the maximum term for land leases entered into by foreign investors. Senate Bill No. 2898, which seeks to amend the 31-year-old Investors’ Lease Act, extends the term for foreign leases to 99 from 75 years.

Swedish investors seek full foreign business ownership in more PH sectors
Swedish companies are seeking a further relaxation of foreign business ownership rules in the Philippines, according to consulting agency Business Sweden.

DA, DTI to boost PHL agri exports, tackle barriers
The DA and DTI inked an agreement that aims to bolster Philippine agricultural exports and tackle market barriers. The agencies signed a MOA that seeks to increase export sales of key commodities, including bananas, mangoes, and seaweed while promoting high-value crops like coffee and cacao.

Worsening trade deficit
According to the ECCP, based on the spending priorities released by the DBM, the government allocated P1.107 trillion under the Build, Build, Build infrastructure program, P204.1 billion in response to the pandemic and to improve the healthcare system, and the rest, for other priority projects.

‘Locators’ VAT issues resolved in Create More’
PEZA said concerns of their locators on the VAT have already been addressed by the CREATE More Law. Peza Director General Tereso O. Panga told reporters the investment promotion agency is working closely with the BIR and the Fiscal Incentives Review Board on the IRR of the law.

DIVERSIFICATION KEY TO HIGHER FDIs: PEZA eyes 10% rise in investments
The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) aims to increase investment registrations in the country by at least 10 percent in 2025 from the current year by diversifying into new technologies and tapping new markets. The country has also set a gameplan of topping its record level of total investment registrations reached in 2012.

ARAL Law IRR signed
The law that aims to provide free science, literacy and mathematics tutoring to kindergarten to grade 10 students (K-10) is expected to go into full swing in the near future with the signing on 16 December of its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

ADB approves $30 million loan for PPP project preparation
The Asian Development Bank has approved a $30-million loan to support the preparation of PPP projects in the country. The multilateral lender said the loan would go to the Project Development and Monitoring Facility to support the design and implementation of bankable PPP projects.

IBM sees low-key adoption of AI in PHL
The IBM Philippines, Inc. said that many companies in the Philippines are quietly adopting and investing in artificial intelligence. “They are very quiet adopters. What I mean is not necessarily all of them are coming out with it because they are careful, they have not measured the impacts,” Aileen Judan-Jiao, country general manager and technology leader at IBM Philippines, said at a briefing.

Philippines still lags behind in 5G connectivity worldwide — study
The Philippines, which has been seeing more investments in digital infrastructure, remains a laggard in terms of 5G connectivity in the world, according to a study by connectivity solutions company Airgain. In its Emerging Digital Powerhouse Index report, the American company placed the Philippines at the 33rd rank out of 37 surveyed countries after scoring 174 points.

Creation of ‘Mega govt task force’ vs. rice price manipulators pushed
Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez on Sunday called for the creation of a “mega government task force” to take decisive action against rice price manipulators and unscrupulous traders engaging in profiteering.

PHL ‘relatively immune’ to trade war impact — BSP
The Philippines is “relatively immune” to the impact of a potential slowdown in China due to a trade war with the United States, the central bank said. However, it may not benefit from the relocation of industries out of China due to its limited competitive advantage.

Government mulls voluntary purchase of raw sugar
The Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) is mulling a new round of voluntary purchase program that would siphon off a certain level of raw sugar from the market to arrest falling prices of the commodity.

PH dairy imports seen rising 14% in 2024
The volume of the country’s dairy imports is expected to climb by around 14 percent this year, driven by higher consumer spending and demand for food services.

Marcos vows to restore funds slashed from DepEd
President Marcos on Monday committed to restore the P10 billion that was slashed from the proposed funding of the Department of Education (DepEd), but clarified that it will not be through a line-item veto of the questioned provision in the P6.352-trillion 2025 General Appropriations Bill (GAB).

16 more medicines now VAT-free
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has added 16 more medicines to its list for exemption from the value-added tax (VAT). The BIR said the move seeks to lower prices of certain medications to more affordable levels for people suffering from specific health conditions.