“Red tape,” lack of infrastructure, and changing policies remain the main obstacles to doing business in the country.

President-apparent Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III learned these from foreign dignitaries who had paid him courtesy calls.

"Most complaints are legitimate that should not have been existing to begin with. Among them are lack of infrastructure, changing policies, and “red tape” so enormous that it is a hindrance to them in achieving their aims and also a disservice to our country, in that maximizing benefits does not happen,” Aquino said.

Aquino cited one instance, wherein one local government unit takes 27 days to finish all transactions and permits.

“We don’t understand why it should take close to a month to undertake all these processes and it gets worse,” the senator from Tarlac said.

The Philippines has consistently ranked lowest among developing countries in terms of the ease of doing business.

A recent World Bank-International Finance Corp. (WB-IFC) survey ranked the Philippines 133rd out of 178 economies, mainly due to the failure of the government to institute significant reforms.

The 2008 survey ranked countries on regulations that enhance and constrain businesses. Indicators include the ease of starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and closing a business.

In the area of starting a business, the Philippines slipped to 133rd from 108th in 2007, with 15 procedures that take up at least 58 days.

The country, however, improved to 77th from 113th in terms of dealing with licenses, with 21 procedures that take up 177 days.

Firms needed 33 days to register their real estate properties, and must go through eight processes.

In terms of employing workers and getting credit, the country was ranked 122nd and 97th, respectively.

“We believe there are a lot of objections that are not in the realm of the impossible, but in the realm of things that should have been done.

We informed them there is a need to rationalize our tax incentives, some are obsolete, and contradicting each other,” Aquino pointed out.

“We are in talks with (foreign investor and foreign dignitaries) because we would want to find out the hindrances and obstacles to do business in our country. At the end of the day, we promised, we asked for specifics on how the relationships can be improved and promised to work on them,” he added.

Ambassadors of superpowers the United States, China, and Japan recently visited Aquino at his No.25 Times Street family residence in West Triangle, Quezon City.

They all pledged their governments’ support of the incoming administration.

US Ambassador Harry K. Thomas, Jr., Chinese Ambassador Liu Jian Chao, and Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura all personally reaffirmed their countries’ cooperation with the Philippines.

Regarding Japan, which Aquino cited as the country’s 1st or 2nd largest trading partner, issues on obstacles to do business in the Philippines will be coursed through the Japanese Chamber of Commerce which will coordinate issues with the Philippine government.

“(Japan) I think has something like 50% of new investments in the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), itsr assistance to us covers the whole width and breadth of the country to include Mindanao issues, assistance during ‘Ondoy’ and ‘Pepeng’, and so on,” Aquino said.