GREEN LANE TO CUT RED TAPE: Iloilo, BOI sign deal to speed up business permits
By Mariela Angella Oladive
By Mariela Angella Oladive
ILOILO CITY – The Iloilo Provincial Government and the Board of Investments signed an agreement on Aug. 27 aimed at making it easier for businesses to establish and operate in the province.
The signing took place at the opening of BOI-LOKAL 2026: Learning Festival on Local Economic Development at Diversion 21 in Iloilo City.
Under the memorandum of agreement, the provincial government and the BOI will share investment-related information and assist investors in securing permits and licenses.
The partnership will also establish a Green Lane for Strategic Investments, intended to streamline the processing of requirements for qualified investments.
Green lanes were mandated across national agencies and local government units under Executive Order 18, series of 2023, which directed the creation of expedited permitting channels for projects classified as strategic investments.
The BOI will provide the provincial government with investment seminars, business matching activities, and technical assistance in developing local investment policies.
The BOI is the lead investment promotion agency of the Department of Trade and Industry.
The agreement was signed by Bobby G. Fondevilla, executive director of the Investments Assistance Center of DTI-BOI; Aulynn Yue Sin, provincial local economic development and investment promotion officer of Iloilo; and Ernesto C. Delos Reyes Jr., director of the Investments Assistance Service of DTI-BOI.
The two-day learning festival brought together government officials, business stakeholders, and development partners to discuss investment facilitation and local economic development.
In her welcome remarks, Yue Sin said attracting investments should be accompanied by efforts to ensure that economic gains create opportunities for local communities.
She called for the province to move beyond being investment-ready by becoming more receptive to investors and new technologies.
“We must be investor-friendly — and innovation-ready,” she said.
4th District Rep. Ferjenel G. Biron, the festival’s inspirational speaker, said investments should be assessed on their broader impact on communities.
Speaking on ease of doing business as a catalyst for local economic development, Biron said investment figures should not be the sole measure of success.
“We should also ask whether those investments create jobs, support our farmers and local enterprises, develop our young people, and bring opportunities closer to our municipalities and even to our barangays,” he said.
Biron was among the authors of House Bill 6579 in the 17th Congress, the measure that became Republic Act 11032, or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018. He chaired the House Committee on Trade and Industry when the chamber approved the bill 225-0 in November 2017.
Biron founded a pharmaceutical distribution company before entering Congress in 2004 and has extensive and personal experience in the challenges of securing permits and clearances as a businessman.
The festival continues Aug. 28 with sessions on local economic development, investment facilitation, business development, and innovation.
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