We need to be more than right

There has been a long festering problem that if mishandled, won’t only blow up in the faces of the country’s biggest corporations. We could actually have a crisis of confidence that could affect business in the Philippines.

Our laws are not in sync with the way the world and modern Filipinos want and need to do business. The ugly truth is that our laws have forced even the best intentioned businessmen, corporations and investors, to go around the law, to find loopholes and basically commit crimes or aberrations in the conduct of business, because they need to in order to achieve growth, generate capitalization and investments and ultimately to make profits.

Lately there has been a spattering of news items, commentaries and reactions about the situation wherein the Supreme Court, based on facts of law, has effectively drawn the line in the sand as to how much shares of stocks “foreigners” can own in any Philippine company and such related matters. It is a “no ifs or buts” situation where the law is interpreted as black and white and not in the vibrant hues of transactional realities.

I’ve also heard that a couple of “Major” Philippine corporations will soon be forced to “delist” from the Philippine Stock Exchange because of rules and requirements of the PSE. These are just some of the latest developments that have businessmen stumped on how to reengineer their investment arrangements without jeopardizing operational stability.

What is evident is the fact that business and commerce in the Philippines has certainly grown and attracted foreign investments faster than legislation and governance can cope with. In the same breath, many Filipinos, both regulators and competitors have learned to fully utilize Philippine laws to champion causes and safeguard “public interests”. It is also good to know that our laws and our courts have stayed faithful to each other in terms of being followed and applied.

But all that can only be good if our laws, particularly the Philippine Constitution had been nurtured as a living and growing “spirit” of Philippine realities and needs, and not a retarded or insufficient set of laws cast in stone that now sets us back to 1935 or 1987 realities. Laws in the first place are supposed to give life and give order, not cause fear or kill the spirit of enterprise.

In 1937, we were reputedly the second strongest economy in Asia, the entire country was a paradise filled with all the enviable resources, and because “foreign businessmen” were trying to establish monopolies, our great grandparents had every reason to promote protectionism and nationalize resources, professions, and certain businesses.

By 1987, much of our vaunted natural resources had been raped and reaped by Filipino businessmen, many professionals have left the nation and migrated and taken jobs from nationals of other countries. Today in the year 2012, many if not most of our top caliber doctors, lawyers, and other professionals would not be at the top of the heap if they did not get training from “foreigners” in a foreign land. Our single biggest resource are Filipino migrant workers.

So far real business, in terms of corporations, industries, global investments have not taken root in the Philippines the way they have in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore or even Vietnam because our claim to being investment friendly is all talk and a lot of lip service. The Philippine Constitution is the biggest roadblock and evidence of protectionism in an era where trade barriers have been coming down. Unfortunately, the combination of a protectionist constitution and culturally crab-minded individuals will always be the perfect formula that shouts: “Foreign Investors – Go Home!”

Second to the crab-minded individuals, we are cursed with myopic politicians who can only think as far as politics and personal legacy and who persists that the Philippine Constitution “Ain’t broke, so why fix it?” From the President down to remnants of friars in robes, they share a common phobia called Metathesiophobia or Fear of Change. Changing certain provisions in the 1987 Constitution won’t necessarily disassociate it with Cory Aquino, nor will it amount to selling off national patrimony. What it can do is help make sense and give guidance for leaders, nation builders and foreign investors. That off course might be too much to ask from people whose vision of the future is limited to what they experience culturally on the road and in traffic.

In the mean time, all we can do is give what amounts to a prophetic warning to our legislators, government officials and regulators. I once cautioned a feisty and very wise economist who often chewed out an ex-president, that sometimes “it is better to be kind than to be right”. In that spirit, those in power whether to regulate, write laws or interpret the laws should not be content in merely enforcing the law in it’s cold impartiality. We should also do what we all can to correct, fill in or help relieve the mistakes and inadequacies of laws in the context of realities.

Philippine business is clearly caught in a swamp of confusing laws, interpretation of laws as well as directives. First and foremost, it is time to recognize the problem and if need be take ownership of the problem. As writers often suggest: introduce the elephant in the room. Having done that, the PNoy administration would achieve a historical first if it initiated a working congress involving the private sector, legislators and government in order to resolve the multiple complications created by succeeding governments and administration. By doing so, this administration would send a strong signal that PNoy means business and is pro-business. Perhaps thru the congress, they can even determine if some form of charter change truly is needed.

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Regular readers of Ctalk know that one topic I’ve given space for is the issue of Internet speed. First of all, I’ve always criticized the Telcos for focusing too much on the entry-level package of 1mbps@999 thereby giving the impression that, that’s the only available speed. Since then the Telcos have also promoted higher speeds at higher prices.

Last week, I found out about the fastest residential broadband Internet speed commercially available in the Philippines, courtesy of SKY broadband who’s offering super speed at 200mbps. At the moment, poor little me can only afford 2mbps and I know from experience that when my wife and daughter decides to watch or down load movies from their respective laptops, I often have to pass off because things would be excruciatingly slow to make being on the net worth it. I can only imagine what it’s like when there’s the average 5 kids and 2 adults sharing one source and one Wi-fi.

200 mbps will certainly speed things up, but just like anything involved with speed or over-speeding, there is a price to pay. The 200 mbps comes with free installation of iRECORD, 3 additional outlet installations, and a free subscription to Sky Cable’s 22 HD channels and 100+digital channels. All that for a red line rate of P34, 999/month. Gentlemen, start your engines!!