MANILA - Philippine economic managers on Tuesday again called for reforms in the granting of fiscal incentives to businesses, saying the government gave away billions of pesos in 2015 alone because of tax breaks and other perks.

The Department of Finance (DOF) said the government lost P301 billion pesos in revenues in 2015 because of incentives granted to 2,844 firms.

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said firms claimed P91.3 billion in income tax holidays and gross income tax incentives in 2015.

Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said despite economic benefits such as jobs, exports and productivity generated by the incentives to some firms, the country was losing more in terms of revenues. He added that many of the incentives were unnecessary.

“We want investment incentives to stay but these should be based on performance, are targeted, transparent and not given out forever,” Chua said in a statement.

NEDA, meanwhile, said in a report that the Philippines has the longest time frame for incentives in Southeast Asia with the latest data showing 654 firms getting tax incentives for at least 15 years.

“The regulatory framework governing tax incentives needs to be carefully evaluated and modified so that the incentives deliver the best returns,” NEDA said in a report.

NEDA also noted that investment promotion agencies generated 2.5 million jobs in 2015, with approximately 2.2 million jobs coming from the Philippine Economic Zone Authority and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

The government is pushing a second package of tax reforms this year, which aims to "modernize" fiscal incentives and reduce the corporate income tax to 25 percent from 30 percent.

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