DEPDev flags gaps hurting PHL

THE Philippines’ competitive environment remains bogged down by legislation and infrastructure gaps, resulting in relatively high product market regulations, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) said.

The country’s competition landscape shows that the environment still has “room for improvement,” Economy Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan told a Philippine Competition Commission event on Monday.

“Barriers to entrepreneurship, trade, and investment, as well as constraints related to legislation and infrastructure, contribute to the Philippines’ relatively high product market regulations,” he said.

Mr. Balisacan added that the restrictions remain significant, noting that competition could be strengthened by improving rules and reducing friction.

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) also offers both opportunities and challenges for competition, he said.

“As AI development accelerates, an enabling policy framework must strike a balance between supporting innovation and safeguarding society from emerging risks,” Mr. Balisacan said.

In a separate statement, the DEPDev said it signed a memorandum of agreement to deploy the P6.79-million innovation grant for the Naga City AI City Planner.

“The project leverages an AI-driven platform that generates analytics from various city activity data to support people-centered, evidence-based transportation planning, as well as monitoring and evaluation,” the DEPDev said. — Aubrey Rose A. Inosante