Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon on Monday said he is confident that the newly-signed law easing the entry of foreign retail enterprises in the Philippines will help pave the way for the country’s economic recovery.

Drilon is referring to Republic Act No. 11595 also known as the Retail Trade Liberalization Act of 2000 which President Duterte signed last Dec. 10, 2021 but was only released last week.

“I laud its timely enactment. It is a game-changer law that the country needs today to speed up our economic recovery,” Drilon said in a statement.

“I am confident that our amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act of 2000 will give the needed boost in our foreign direct investments. It will address a number of foreign investment roadblocks,” he stressed.

Drilon said the law will boost the country’s chance to return to pre-pandemic economic growth level, since the Philippine economy has become among the weakest in Southeast Asia due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the past 22 years, Drilon pointed out that the Philippines still has a very poor retail trade investments portfolio.

As of 2021, he said there are only 46 foreign retail corporations registered with the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) or a growth of two retailers per year since 2000.

The newly-signed law, which amends RA 8762, aims to lower the paid-up capital requirement in retail trade to P25-million from its previous limit of $2.5-million or roughly P125-million.

The law also relaxes the restrictions in foreign investments by removing investment categories and setting an across-the-board minimum paid up capital investment equivalent to P25 million.

Drilon said the threshold is designed to protect small and medium enterprises in the country.

“It will strike a balance between encouraging foreign investments and stimulating the development of the local retail sector,” he assured.