‘Bangsamoro is open to foreign investments’

From the Business World (Dec 23): ‘Bangsamoro is open to foreign investments’

THE MORO Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) is open to the idea of letting foreign investors in the proposed Bangsamoro territory once it is formally established to drive the economic growth and development in the region.

However, the group is only prepared to participate in “exploratory talks” for now, MILF peace panel chair Mohagher Iqbal said last week.

“We are open to foreign investments, although at this point in time, it is not yet timely to be giving go signals and entering into deals. For now, there can be exploratory talks just to start things,” Mr. Iqbal told BusinessWorld in a phone interview.

Mr. Iqbal also clarified points raised in an editorial on the group’s Web site cautioning would-be investors in the Bangsamoro Region, reminding them that the current business climate in the area is “not yet normal.”

“This is not in any way to drive away investors. This is for their protection and for the interests of everybody especially the meek, weak, and faint-hearted,” the MILF Web site luwaran.com said in an editorial published Tuesday.

The MILF piece warned companies to be careful in dealing with prospective partners who offer vast tract of lands for their plantation farms.

“Except those clearly and cleanly titled, lands in the Bangsamoro are classified as timberlands, alienable and disposable, those sold to the government under its program of ‘voluntary offer to sale’, and those in the category of the same scheme but most if not all the beneficiaries are fictitious,” the editorial said.

Meanwhile, pressed on the issue of letting extractive industries in, such as mining companies, Mr. Iqbal said that such issues must be studied first due to the potential environmental degradation it would create.

“We are cautious about those but it’s not to say that we are not open to it. We want industries that are environment-friendly. So, in those cases, there should be clear parameters,” Mr. Iqbal explained.

Political analyst and executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform Ramon C. Casiple believes that the MILF commentary holds water and that prudence dictates that investors should wait on the fate of the Bangsamoro Basic Law first before embarking on new ventures.

“That warning has basis because the matter of the development of the resources in the area as well as the other economic activities will have to go through the new Bangsamoro entity,” Mr. Casiple told BusinessWorld in a phone interview.

“Of course, it won’t apply to businesses which are already established there -- because it’s already there. Though it may be subject to some policies that will come out after the establishment of the new [Bangsamoro] entity,” he added.

Business entities that can’t afford to wait on making investments in the proposed autonomous region should first seek concurrence of both the national government and the MILF to avoid difficulties and complications in the future, Mr. Casiple said.

The proposed Bangsamoro territories include the present areas of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, composed of the five provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

Also included in the planned core territories are the cities of Cotabato and Isabela as well as 78 barangays located in 12 municipalities in Mindanao.

http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Nation&title=&145bangsamoro-is-open-to-foreign-investments&8217&id=100046