MANILA, Philippines — Trade and Industry Secretary Gregory L. Domingo has admonished the automotive industry to come up first with an industry roadmap before they ask for government incentives.

“There is nothing impossible as far as support, but the solution cannot be done by just asking For tax breaks there must be a plan,” Domingo said.

Industry players have presented during the 3rd Summit of the Philippine Automotive Competitiveness Council Inc. (PACCI) where they presented a study calling for excise tax rebates of as much as 100 percent to entice local production of vehicles and parts production.

Domingo explained that it is difficult to give a definite answer if there is no well-thought roadmap.

As if trying to teach the industry on what is a roadmap, Domingo said, it is a strategy on how to attain an objective so it should include identifying the gaps of production, targets, companies and investments. The trade chief has been urging the industry to come up with out of the box solutions to make the industry become an exporter of completely built up vehicles.

“We are trying to develop a roadmap with them so it is difficult to respond to requests for incentives without tying it up to a plan,” he said.

In the planned roadmap, Domingo would like the inclusion of a list of all parts needed to produce a car. The industry should identify what are the parts that are being produced here or not and what are the most critical parts that are needed to be produced here.

By doing so, the DTI would be able to act on how to address that gap.

“If they identify windshield as a critical automotive part then we can talk to Asahi Glass,” he said.

We have to identify the missing link,” Domingo said.

It has been almost two years now that the industry has no program since Domingo has practically junked the supposedly new Motor Vehicle Development Program under Executive Order 877-A, which was among the last EOs issued by then President Gloria Arroyo before she stepped down in June 2010.

Recently, various local automotive organizations have banded together to give the lethargic industry the needed shot in the arm to attain an objective the Philippines as an alternative automotive production hub in ASEAN. (BCM)