The BGA Philippines Team, led by Managing Director Victor Andres Manhit, prepared an update for clients on the recently released 2026 Strategic Investment Priority Plan.

Context:

  • The Philippine government released a memorandum June 2 that contains the 2026 Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) approved by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The SIPP identifies priority sectors, activities and investment areas eligible for incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises to Maximize Opportunities for Reinvigorating the Economy (CREATE MORE) Act. This is the first SIPP to be enacted by the Marcos administration. 
  • The newly released SIPP indicates a strategic shift in the country’s investment priorities toward high-value, innovation-driven and future-ready industries in response to evolving global economic trends, making it more comprehensive than the 2022 SIPP. The Board of Investments developed the new SIPP in consultation with the Fiscal Incentives Review Board, investment promotion agencies, other government agencies responsible for administering tax incentives and the private sector. 

Significance:

  • Trade and Industry Secretary Cristina Roque said the government aims to work closely with the private sector to maximize the SIPP’s impact. She emphasized that the SIPP serves not only to attract investments but to guide economic transformation by identifying priority activities for incentives, attracting high-value capital, creating jobs, developing the workforce and improving the lives of Filipinos. 
  • SIPP has three tier categories. Tier I includes activities that have high potential for job creation and take place in sectors with market failures and generate value creation through innovation, upgrading or moving up the value chain. Tier II includes defense-related service activities and activities that produce supplies and intermediate services that are not locally produced but are critical to industrial development and import-substituting activities. Tier III includes science, technology and innovation-related activities that involve research and development resulting in demonstrably significant value-added, higher productivity, improved efficiency, breakthroughs in science and health and high-paying jobs that would generate new knowledge and intellectual property registered or licensed in the Philippines.

Implications:

  • The SIPP serves as a key reference for investors and businesses seeking to align their projects with the country’s development objectives. It categorizes industries into three tiers, with higher-tier activities eligible for longer periods of incentive eligibility, including income tax holidays, enhanced deductions and the special corporate income tax. 
  • The SIPP may help businesses evaluate current and future investment opportunities, assess expansion strategies and identify potential incentives available for qualifying projects. Science and technology sectors including Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum technology, biotechnology will have lower periods of incentive eligibility than sustainability-driven industries such as industrial and hazardous waste treatment and climate change related projects.

We will continue to keep you updated on developments in the Philippines as they occur. If you have any questions or comments, please contact BGA Philippines Managing Director Victor Andres Manhit at vmanhit@bowergroupasia.com. 

Best regards, 

BGA Philippines Team 

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Managing Director

Dindo is recognized as one of Manila’s most well-connected and savvy advisers on developments in government and business in the Philippines. Concurrent with his role as managing director for the BGA Philippines office, he is also the founder and managing director of the Stratbase Group and president of its policy think tank, the Stratbase Institute for Strategic and International Studies.  Since 1991, Dindo has served as a member of the faculty and is the former chair of the Political Science Department and a senior fellow of the La Salle Institute of Governance at the De La Salle University, Manila. He has authored numerous papers on good governance, political, electoral and educational reform. He specializes ... Read More