Leaders of Philippine and foreign business groups have rallied behind the call of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. to lift the restrictive economic provisions in  the Constitution to generate more jobs, lower consumer prices and increase economic productivity.

In a dialogue held recently at the House of Representatives, Belmonte underscored the necessity of foreign investments to sustain the Philippines’ economic growth and make it “inclusive.”

"For this reason, I am pushing for the relaxation of the restrictive economic provision of the Constitution regarding foreign investments," said Belmonte, who is also the honorary chairman of the National Unity Party (NUP).

Belmonte and other House leaders invited representatives of the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce and the captains of Philippine business and industry to the consultative meeting to come up with a common economic legislative reform agenda that will guarantee sustained growth. 

The Speaker pointed out that "while the macroeconomic fundamentals of the Philippines have been impressive, its share of foreign direct investments pales in comparison with those of other countries in the region."



In the ASEAN region, the Philippines' share of foreign direct investment over a three-year  period  from 2009 to 2011 averaged only 1.8%. Singapore got the lion's share of FDI with 54%, followed by Indonesia, 15%, Vietnam,  9.1%, Malaysia,  8.9% and Thailand,  8.6%.

The total FDI of the Philippines for the same period amounted to only US.5 billion or less than a fifth of the FDI that went to Vietnam,  which was US billion.

Belmonte also noted that recent statistics and surveys show that the country’s high economic growth has neither commensurately increased employment nor  significantly improved the lives of Filipinos.

“It is worth noting that despite their relatively lower economic growth rate in recent years, our neighboring countries in the region continue to enjoy low unemployment rate," Belmonte said.   He attributed this to the high level of foreign investments in these countries, which generate jobs and drive up purchasing power.

Belmonte is the author of House Resolution No. 1 which proposes a key  amendment to certain  restrictive economic provision of the Constitution.

In his resolution, Belmonte proposed that this  amendment be done  through the regular legislative process of Congress with both the Senate and the House acting separately on the proposal.

When  passed by both houses voting separately, the amendment will be presented to the people through a national referendum to determine if they agree with the constitutional change.



The modification  would just be the addition of the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” to the Charter’s economic provisions.

“The amendment would serve as the key to open the door for Congress to craft a law, in consultation with all concerned sectors of society, which would maximize the inflow of foreign direct investments into the economy without prejudice to national patrimony," Belmonte said.

He pointed out that this simple amendment will serve as an assurance that only economic provisions of the Charter would be amended, with the process entailing no additional expenses for the government since this would go through regular legislative procedures.

“I  hasten to add that the amendments will just be a key, because Congress would still need to pass the appropriate laws. But I believe, as with most, if not all of you, that this easing of foreign ownership restrictions will provide a strong and unequivocal signal to foreign investors interested in the Philippines," Belmonte said.


He noted that liberalizing the entry of foreign investments would adequately prepare the Philippines for the transformation of the ASEAN region into a single market by 2015.

The Philippines, Belmonte said, should be able to maximize the benefits it can get under this new economic system, instead of continuing to lag behind its ASEAN neighbors.

“We cannot afford a scenario where our ASEAN neighbors will be exporting goods to us while we export our workers to them to run their factories. I'm sure we all agree that this would be a most sorry scenario," Belmonte declared.

The business leaders who attended the dialogue included,  among others, the following: Michael Raeuber and Henry Schumacher of the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine; John Forbes and  Kent Primor of the Australian-New Zealand Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines;. Nobuo Fujii of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines; Ramon del Rosario of the Makati Business Club; Eduardo Yap of the Management Association of the Philippines; Sergio Ortiz Luis of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry;  Luis Miguel Aboitiz of the Philippine Independent Power Producers Association; Donald Dee of the Export Development Council; and Calixto Chikiamco of the Foundation for Economic Freedom.

The House leaders present at the dialogue included Deputy Speaker Roberto Puno of the NUP and his fellow Deputy Speakers Henedina Abad, Giorgidi Aggabao and Carlos Padilla.

The  chairpersons of the various House  committees also attended the meeting. They include Representatives Karlo Alexei Nograles (Labor and Employment), Teddy Brawner-Baguilat (Agrarian Reform), Isidro Ungab (Appropriations), Sonny Collantes (Banks and Financial Intermediaries), Mylene Garcia-Albano (Constitutional Amendments), Enrique Cojuangco (Economic Affairs), Reynaldo Umali (Energy) , Jorge Almonte (Public Information), Mark Villar (Trade and Industry),  Cesar Sarmiento (Transportation) and Romero Federico Quimbo (Ways and Means).