DTI readies measures to attract investments

The Department of Trade and Industry is now working on five measures that may remove certain restrictions on foreign entities, particularly in the area of public utilities operations.

During Thursday’s Communication and News Exchange Forum, Trade Undersecretary and Board of Investments managing head Cristino Panlilio said these measures were designed to make the Philippines a more investment-friendly country.

“We’re on the research stage now and we’re also doing some paperwork. I don’t want to say yet what these measures are, except that they will cover major industries,” Panlilio said.

Panlilio said these measures were not necessarily fiscal in nature.

“There may be certain restrictions on foreign ownership that may be allowed. We’ll just correct them. We’re just reacting to suggestions to review these restrictive provisions,” he said.

One of the measures that the DTI was looking at, Panlilio said, had to do with operations of some public-private partnership projects by foreign entities.

Under Article 12, Section 11, of the Constitution, the operation of public utilities can only be done by Filipino firms. Foreign control will be restricted to shareholdings alone, and only up to 40 percent of total capital.

Panlilio explained that to make the government’s PPP projects more attractive to foreign firms, the ban on operations could be removed.

“Right now, foreigners can only construct but not operate. We want to amend this via Congress. This will help expedite PPP project rollout,” Panlilio said. “We can allow full foreign ownership or at least reverse the allowed ownership structure to 60-percent foreign and 40-percent local.”

Whatever amendments to laws or rules would be necessary to implement such a measure and the four others would be coursed through the Legislative Executive Development Advisory Council or done via an executive order, Panlilio said.

Panlilio refused to identify the other measures that the DTI was working on, saying only that one of them had to do with construction. This, however, was not regarding land ownership.