The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (CAMPI) has opposed the proposed creation of a powerful Automotive Industry Development Council, instead the 18-strong industry association has called for an inter-agency body to coordinate policy and program implementation that would assist the Board of Investments.

This was contained in a press statement issued by CAMPI after most of the industry stakeholders got dismayed over the draft Motor Vehicle Development Program for lack of teeth and substance.

The CAMPI statement though did not categorically junk the proposal to create the Council, but says “An inter-agency body may be created to ‘coordinate’ policy and program implementation to assist the BoI, witht eh BoI as ‘the’ body to formulate programs and policies and implement them. To be fair, the BoI has had its fair share of successes. The formulation of programs, policies and the implementation of these should remain with the BoI.”

The draft executive order (EO) on MVDP puts emphasis on the creation of the Automotive Industry Development Council, which covers the entire Article 1 of the order. The Council, to be chaired by the DTI Secretary, is composed of members from 7 government agencies and three representatives from the recognized automotive industry associations.

Under the draft EO, the Council, attached to the BoI, is empowered to oversee the implementation of the MVDP, harmonize policies, rules and regulations and other concerns as they reflect the implementation of the program, and coordinate all automotive industry development efforts of all agencies and instrumentalities of the government to create a conducive environment to attract new investment and expand existing opportunities, foster development of innovative technologies in the automotive industry, develop a high value-added manufacturing activities in niche areas, increase the industry’s exports and make the Philippines a production hub for the region, and improve competitiveness of parts and component manufacturers.

The creation of the Council calls for the upgrading of the Motor Vehicles Division of the BoI to a Department to be called Motor Vehicle Industry Department under the BoI with a manpower complement of at least 20 technical and clerical personnel.

The BoI shall submit a supplemental budget to the Department of Budget and Management, which shall set aside an initial amount of P20 million. Thereafter, the Council shall have a budgetary allocation from the General Appropriations Act under the BoI budget.