PCCI inks deal on Asean legal support network

NANNING, China – Foreign investor confidence in the Philippines should further strengthen after the country’s largest business group inked an agreement with Asian counterparts to create a legal support network for enterprises facing arbitration outside their home territories.

Francis Chua, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), explained the China-Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) legal cooperation would be an additional help to foreign firms facing conflicts usually with the government of the countries they are operating in.

In the case of the Philippines, he pointed out, this may ease worries the next set of leaders elected during the 2016 polls may easily overturn existing contracts and leave foreign investors helpless.

“I think this would help those investors that come to the Philippines that might worry that (because of) the change of government and change of policy, their investments would not be protected,” Chua said.

“The committee will see to it that both sides are protected, not only the Philippine side but also the foreigners. That should help foreign investors have more confidence as far as their investments in the country is concerned,” he continued.

Chua said the flow of investments in a number of countries are being hindered by arbitrations and disputes usually between the government and a foreign firm. This is something the business chambers would want to avoid as this also dampens confidence in the concerned economy.

But through the legal cooperation signed by the PCCI and its counterparts from China and the Asean, enterprises are expected to be taught the relevant laws they need using the different chambers’ vast resources and expertise.

“This is benefitting not only the Philippine companies but also [those from] China and other Asean countries. So if there are any problems, the different chambers among Asean are supposed to come in to assist,” Chua said.

“We don’t just leave the matter up to the lawyer or up to the arbitrator, but we should advise our businessmen how to conduct themselves, and how to protect themselves from a legal point of view,” he continued.

The business groups, in signing the cooperation, hopes to jointly and actively conduct research on trade and investment laws in the different participating countries and to be able to provide legal counsel on those in need.

The initiative also aims to establish a mediation body to strengthen the arbitration cooperation between China and Asean member countries. An annual symposium, relevant workshops, and even trainings have also been planned under the cooperation agreement.

“These things (arbitration) do happen, but we (the businesses) should understand beforehand and we should be able to know what are we going into (first) so we could choose which kind of arbitration court we want to go to,” Chua said.

“They would like the Asean chambers of commerce and industry, like PCCI in the Philippines, to play a big role in helping whenever there’s a big transaction,” he added.

Chua said the cooperation hopes the business chambers would be proactive such that they would voluntarily come forward and offer their help especially when their governments are brokering a big business deal.