Envoy: Restrictive Phl rules ward off investors

CEBU, Philippines - Although the Philippines is slowly gaining the interest of Canadian investors specifically on Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), insurance, and also mining, it still lags behind in terms of attracting actual direct investments from Canada due to obsolete constitutional provisions.

Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines Neil Reeder said yesterday that the Philippines needs to work on constitutional reforms and eliminate restrictions that discourage foreign investors to invest in the country.

Reeder who was in Cebu yesterday to officially open the celebration of the 147th Canada Day through a Trade Fair at the Ayala Center Cebu, said that if the Philippines addresses the concerns of foreign investors on the "restrictions" there is no reason why it cannot match Vietnam and Thailand in terms of attracting actual investments.

However, while the Philippines continue to be firm in maintaining what the foreigners' described as "strict" foreign direct investments provisions, Reeder said the Philippines, including Cebu is still getting big ticket investments, in fact some are going to open and hire more Filipinos within this year.

According to Reeder, the government of Canada through its embassy office in Manila, is supporting the current administration's thrust to encourage Filipinos to find work here, quoting the President as saying "working abroad should be a choice, not a necessity."

The Ambassador said that as the Canadian government is supporting the Philippines in boosting employment opportunities through investments, the Philippine government should ease restrictions imposed on foreign investors.

Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines president Julian Payne emphasized that ease of doing business in the Philippines is lagging far behind other ASEAN countries. The country's weak judicial system and infrastructure specifically air and seaport facilities are less comparable to international standard.

Obviously, the Canadian officials hinted that the Philippines has to double its efforts in addressing these overdue concerns with regards to inviting more FDIs, otherwise foreign investors have a handful of countries in ASEAN to choose from.

Payne said that along with other foreign chambers in the Philippines, CanCham is strongly supporting the proposal of house speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., to vest in Congress the power to set restrictions on foreign ownership in key economic sectors, including public utilities, property, mass media and advertising, educational institutions and development of natural resources.

According to Reeder, Canada has a lot to offer to the Philippines, particularly in its expertise in Public-Private-Partnership, engineering technology, among others. (FREEMAN)