CEBU CITY, Cebu — The Board of Investments (BOI) is encouraging more industry players under the creative sector to capitalize on additional incentives provided for them by the government.
Recognizing the significant contribution of the creative sector to the general economic landscape of the country, BOI Governor Gerry Sta. Ana said the creative sector ranks second among BOI’s list of preferred investments for 2013 during a public hearing held in Cebu recently.
“We want the Philippines to be competitive in the creative industry because worldwide, it is a market with great opportunities. Filipinos are inherently talented, like in animation, so we can take advantage of this,” Sta. Ana said in an interview.
He said at present the BOI can only provide income tax holiday incentives for industry players under the creative sector, but he vowed that the agency will help advocate for additional incentives.
“They can come submit a position paper expressing their interest to get more assistance from the government apart from the income tax holiday incentives given by the board,” Sta. Ana noted.
“The creative sector is a fast growing industry that we are supporting,” expressed fellow BOI Governor Oliver Butalid.
Based on BOI’s proposed investment priority for 2013, the creative industries that are part of the incentive umbrella cover non-voice business processing operation, and creative, and knowledge-based services.
They also include services with original content such as but not limited to software development, animation, engineering and architectural design, product design, game and applications and development and software development. The Philippine peso equivalent of US$200,000 (excluding cost of land and building) will be put up during the first year of operations.
Creative Cebu Council Officer Ian Zafra said the BOI’s description on creative sector is too limited. “The creative sector is not only animation and technology related works, but also include music, film, original composition, among others,” he said.
Earlier, the Creative Cebu Council has sought help from the Government Financial Institution (GFI), SB Corporation to include the sector in its direct lending facility.
The 2013 investments priorities plan lists 13 preferred activities. These are agriculture/agribusiness and fishery; creative industries/knowledge-based services; shipbuilding; mass housing; iron and steel; energy; infrastructure; research and development; green projects; manufacture of motor vehicles; strategic projects; hospital/medical services; and disaster prevention, mitigation and recovery projects.