Legal aspects of business in the Philippines - Starting Up

It was a wholly appropriate debut for PLAIN Solutions. The occasion was yesterday’s public seminar in Rotterdam dubbed Mag-negosyo Tayo! organized by the Philippine Embassy’s Trade and Investment Center.

There I presented a brief powerpoint entitled “Legal requirements for setting up business in the Philippines”. The by-line of the authorship was ‘PLAIN solutions’ - an intriguing novelty to the audience, even to the many kababayan who already knew me as a personality in the Filipino-Dutch community. Only when the last slide was shown, indicating the meaning of "PLAIN" the acronym, did I notice their visible sense of satisfied curiosity. "Oo nga ano," it seems they were saying, "PLAIN Solutions, Peter's Legal Solutions: legal and other technical stuff that would be nice to know when getting involved in anything Pinoy".

Although there was no open forum after my presentation, the break that immediately followed gave several listeners opportunity to bounce off their business plans, or to inquire about some legal things, or just to share the Dutch versions of the Philippine terms and procedures which I mentioned in my talk.

Two points in my presentation drew the seminar audience in rather rapt attention. First, in introducing the topic "What business am I allowed to go into?", I referred to the news that broke just the day before, in the afternoon of Friday, July 10. A court in Haarlem sentenced a couple (Dutch husband and Filipina wife) to three-and-a-half years imprisonment for mensensmokkel, human trafficking. Their lucrative business of importing Filipino women to the Netherlands and afterwards shipping off 'the merchandise' to the underworld in Italy was utterly monkey business [apologies to the innocent creatures for this popular expression] and their fate should teach a lesson or two to those who think they can get away with doing any kind of indecent, dishonest business in the Philippines or anywhere else.

The second point of interest, pretty much capturing the reality of doing business in the Philippines, was the finding of the IFC-World Bank that the Philippines is one the countries with the most regulations on starting up a business. Even under the best scenario, there are 15 procedures to be fulfilled by an aspiring entrepreneur, taking some 27 days to complete, before a company can be considered legally formed. The Philippines is not an easy place to start a business. And while the situation is being addressed with "one-stop shop" reform initiatives, the country has a long, long way to go before it can reasonably measure up with it's neighbor Singapore - the best place in the world to do business, according to the IFC-WB.

The Seminar was special in another way. Here was the very last public appearance of Ambassador Romeo Arguelles whose term as envoy ends mid-month. In his welcome remarks, he reminded the audience of the need as well as bright promise for business and foreign investments in the country. This most genteel Ambassador, whose kindness and generosity are now legend within the Filipino-Dutch community, was always an excellent diplomat and salesman for the country. With his retirement, it is a real pity that the Philippines will be losing an illustrious advocate - not only of national economic progress but also of Philippine culture and the Philippine rule of law. Mabuhay and a high salute to Amba Arguelles!