The business community has no reason to be nervous or scared under the new government because President Duterte is the “ultimate pragmatist” and “fierce nationalist” who, while genuinely caring for the masses, is sure to provide a stable and predictable environment for businesses to thrive on his watch, said the think tank Wallace Business Forum (WBF).

Unlike past Presidents who have wielded their overall authority to dictate policies, the WBF said that Mr. Duterte hasn’t done that when it comes to economic matters, and the business community can expect a “better deal” from him as he has opted to leave the task of improving the business climate to his Cabinet that has “respected former businessmen and academics in its portfolio.”

In a think piece entitled “Duterte After 100 Days,” the WBF said an “unfortunate side effect of the new government’s war on drugs is that “businessmen are nervous and foreign investors hesitant, even scared. They needn’t be.”

“He (Mr. Duterte) has left the role of the state in business to his Cabinet. A Cabinet that has respected former businessmen and academics in its portfolio. They know what business needs, and intend providing it,” said the WBF in its think piece furnished to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

“Business will not be challenged by his political maneuvering, it will be provided a stable, predictable business environment that will be gradually improved,” it said.

It noted that, “Although a Philippine president has overall authority, and in the hierarchical society the Philippines is, can dictate it as previous presidents have often done. Duterte doesn’t, at least when it comes to economic matters.”

Instead, it said, “He has left that and improvement in the business environment to his competent economic team…business can only expect a better deal. Lower taxes is a very welcome, first step. Faster, simpler bureaucracy I expect longer down the line.”

“And foreigners are as safe here as anywhere in the world today,” said the WBF. “In fact, on crime maybe safer. Anecdotal conversation says Filipinos feel safer on the streets today.”

It noted that ever since Mr. Duterte took over, “petty crime has diminished markedly. Even the big stuff doesn’t seem as common now. Corruption will be more difficult to eradicate. But there’s a better chance under Duterte than (former Presidents) Arroyo or Aquino.”

The WBF said that businesspersons in Davao City agree and “overwhelmingly support the leadership he demonstrated and environment he created for business (in that city when he was mayor).”

“The same can be expected nationally,” it added.

For the WBF, the Chief Executive “has a natural and genuine empathy with them (the masses). And he’s a fierce nationalist correcting what he sees as a mendicant attitude of the past. He has a rough way of saying, and doing it. To react to his outbursts misunderstands the man, wait for the clarifications, then assess.”

The President is “misunderstood,” it said, because “he has a rough way of saying, and doing it. To react to his outbursts misunderstands the man, wait for the clarifications, then assess.”

“(But) Filipinos agree with him, they’re proud he’s standing up for an equal, independent nation. SWS (Social Weather Stations) says 76% of Filipinos approved of him. What leader anywhere else in the world gets anywhere close to that?” it stressed.

The WBF traced this record popular support to the fact that Mr. Duterte is “a man who wears his heart on his sleeve. He really does care for the little guy. And they know it. So they care back….He has a natural and genuine empathy with them.”

The WBF said that the business community can get a glimpse of the Duterte government’s economic thrusts in the President’s first State of the Nation Address, in which he set the following directions:

· Continue & maintain current macroeconomic policies, and do even better;

· Reduce personal and corporate income taxes;

· Improve global competitiveness and promote ease of doing business by, among others, streamlining business registration and issuance of permits;

· Accelerate infrastructure spending;

· Develop farm-to-market roads, irrigation facilities, modern harvest and post-harvest facilities;

· Increase spending on basic education and alternative learning systems;

· Improve the Conditional Cash Transfer or CCT Program (to ensure that program graduates become independent and self-reliant) along with monthly rice subsidies and the universal health insurance coverage; and

· Fully implement the Reproductive Health (RH) Law.

The WBF said that among the initiatives that President Duterte has done in his first 100 days in office are the following:

· Called 340 businessmen to get their inputs on what business needs—before his inauguration—during the Sulong Pilipinas forum in Davao City;

· Formed an atni-red tape unit at the Department of Finance (DOF);

· Asked government agencies to uphold sanctity of contracts;

· Started the process to stop “Endo, 5-5-5;”

· Announced the approval of 17 Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects before yearend;

· Welcomed both solicited and unsolicited PPP projects and said new PPPs will focus on lower fees and do away with premiums demanded from bidders;

· Started simplifiying permit requirements for infrastructure projects;

· Created the Infrastructure Monitoring Advisory Group (IMAG) to monitor every major or big-ticket infrastructure project to ensure quality and timely implementation;

· Started pilot-testing business licensing software through the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT);

· Ordered local government units (LGUs) to release licenses in 1-2 days;

· Established one-stop shops for overseas Filipino workers (OFWs);

· Increased the validity of drivers’ licenses in Metro Manila to 5 years;

· Launched additional point-to-point buses to decongest traffic along EDSA;

· Removed general aviation from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), which raised on-time arrivals from 47% to 71%;

· Cut the waiting time between trains at the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) to 4.5 minutes from 5 minutes;

· Ended the “tanim-bala” 6 days after being sworn into office;

· Submitted the 2017 national budget on time, leading to its early approval by the Congress;

· Worked with the Departments of National Defense (DND) and of Budget and Management (DBM) to ensure that soldiers and policemen get additional monthly allowances;

· Instructed the DBM and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to revisit the CCT program with the intention of minimizing the leakages and the administrative costs, and benefitting only the poorest of the poor; and

· Approved a Department of Agriculture (DA) measure providing P21 billion-worth of assistance to palay farmers with hybrid or certified seeds, fertilizer, and other farm inputs.

The WBF said that President Duterte has submitted a tax reform to the Congress and called on the two legislative chambers to do the following:

· Reduce corporate income tax to 25%;

· Re-align personal income taxes; and

· Pass an Emergency Powers Act to solve the traffic problem.