Business groups express support for economic Cha-cha

MANILA, Philippines — The Makati Business Club (MBC) and the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) are supporting the economic Charter change (Cha-cha) initiative of the House of Representatives, which aims to relax or lift foreign ownership restrictions in the Constitution.

The two groups expressed their support in position papers submitted to the committee on constitutional amendments chaired by Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.

“Among other means, we support adding the words, ‘unless otherwise provided by law,’ following the constitutional provisions that set the limits on various sectors. In a competitive global economy, we believe in lower barriers to trade and investment in general,” the MBC said.

It said setting foreign equity restrictions could be entrusted to the President or Congress instead of being enshrined in the Charter.

The group noted that while the constitutions of most Asian nations, including India and China, “may discuss economic principles, specific economic restrictions and guidelines are left to the legislature.”

“Further economic liberalization will bring in new players and technology, which will boost competition on price and quality, benefitting Filipino consumers,” the MBC stressed.

For its part, the MAP said relaxing or lifting foreign ownership limitations would “hasten the flow of foreign investments into the country.”

But the association suggested that instead of just inserting the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” in the pertinent parts of the Charter, the “Filipino first policy” provision of the Constitution should be amended as well.

It quoted the provision: “The State shall be a self-reliant and independent national economy effectively controlled by Filipinos.”

The group further recommended that the phrase “effectively controlled by Filipinos” should be deleted, as it might work against the relaxation or scrapping of foreign ownership restrictions.

“The MAP anticipates that the simple introduction of the phrase ‘unless otherwise provided by law’ may be challenged as constitutionally infirm if the Filipino first policy is not also revised,” it said.

Earlier, the Joint Foreign Chambers (JFC) supported proposals in the House for the lifting of foreign equity restrictions.

“We recommend removal of the restrictions at the earliest date. This can best be accomplished by deleting the restrictions without adding the phrase ‘unless otherwise provided by law’ (as proposed by Rodriguez and his colleagues),” the JFC said in its position paper.

It said if the policy objective of lawmakers and the administration in undertaking Charter change is to encourage foreign investments, “then the best way to do so is to remove the restrictions without conditions.”

The group said if the limitations are scrapped, Congress could re-impose any of them by passing the appropriate law.

The JFC is composed of businessmen from the United States, Japan, Korea, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and European Union, and representatives of multinational companies whose regional headquarters are located in the country.