Restrictions on foreign ownership of land should stay, the Duterte administration’s chief economic manger said, but non-Filipino citizens should also be allowed to lease real-estate assets for a long-term period.

During the hearing on the proposed Charter change before the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III said that any proposal to lift the ban on foreign ownership of land "evokes strong emotional reactions.”

 “I think you cannot ignore the colonial past of the Philippines, where it was thought that foreigners came and ended up owning the land, dispossessing the Filipinos,” Dominguez said “Land is a very emotional issue.”

For this reason, Dominguez believes that land foreign ownership should be excluded from discussions on amending the Constitution.

But Dominguez noted that there is a way to skirt the land ownership restrictions, “and that is through a lease.”

Under the Constitution, foreigners may acquire real-estate property by partnering with Filipino citizens who should own at least 60 percent of the asset. However, foreigners may also lease land but only for 25 years, renewable for another 25 years.

Instead of the a maximum 50-year leasehold, Dominguez suggested that non-Filipino citizens may be allowed to lease for a period of 99-years.

 “We can only lease for 25 plus 25 , some investments require longer payback than that,” Dominguez said.

 “So you can pass a legislation where land ownership can be Philippinized. In other words, up to 40 percent can be owned by foreigners, but the ability to lease the land for a long term period should be opened,” he added.

Earlier, Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo said the Constitutional provision prohibiting land ownership by foreigners could be amended by adding the clause “unless otherwise provided by law”, which would allow Congress to qualify permissible land ownership.  

Quimbo said that allowing foreign ownership of land in the country is a necessary step to attract more investments.