Executive Order (EO) No. 29, dated 14 March 2011, established the “open skies policy” enabling the government to pursue its international civil aviation liberalization policy more aggressively. EO 29 aims to ease restrictions on domestic aviation which specifically provides the grant of third, fourth and fifth rights, part of a set of commercial aviation rights, as well as unrestricted capacities and frequencies to foreign air carriers, among others. With this policy, it is expected that the entry of foreign carriers would be boosted and, thus, enhance the country’s competitiveness as a tourism destination and investment location.

The government streamlined bureaucratic procedures aimed at reducing the cost of doing business. To simplify and cut down the business registration process, the Philippine Business Registry (PBR) is made fully operational and harmonizes registration requirements of SSS, Philhealth, Pag-ibig, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The process of business name registration was also enhanced through the online Business Name Registration System (BNRS).