AKO BICOL Party-List Representative Alfredo Garbin Jr. maintained on Tuesday, April 3, that revising the "restrictive" economic provisions of the Constitution is in order to further attract foreign investments into the Philippines.
Garbin, chairperson of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, issued a statement as President Duterte certified as urgent on Monday, April 12, three Senate bills to "provide a more conducive investment climate, increase job opportunities, foster more competition, and further spur the country's economic growth".
These were bills proposing amendments to the Public Service Act, Foreign Investments Act, and Retail Trade Liberalization Act -- all of which were already passed in the House of Representatives.
"These three economic measures certified as urgent by the President work towards improving the overall competitiveness of the country to attract investment. A look into the Restrictive provision of the 1987 Constitution which have hampered the inflow of FDIs (foreign direct investments) in the Country is also warranted," Garbin commented.
"The investment-to-GDP (gross domestic product) ratio of the country is still very low and FDI is one of the lowest in the region," he added.
The House of Representatives has been discussing the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 2, which proposes amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Specifically, the measure seeks to allow lawmakers to change the constitutional limitations on foreign ownership in certain sectors of the economy like telecommunications, public utilities, media, advertising, and education.
Congressmen argued that such an amendment will "hasten" the Philippines' recovery from the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis.
Similar resolutions have also been filed in the Senate but several senators were not convinced about necessity of a Charter change (Cha-cha), saying Congress could just prioritize legislation that would directly address the impacts of the pandemic, particularly on encouraging investments into the country.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday that FDI inflows to the Philippines went up by 41.5 percent to $961 million in January from the $679 million recorded on the same month last year.
"This development reflects the investors' optimism at the start of the year in turn to the gradual reopening of the economy under the 'new' normal condition, easing of lockdown measures, and positive news about the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines," the BSP said.