ffifd"rd I *rro*,
'EBRUAR'
Give tm a run for their money
(f irst of two parts)
THIS moming, the task force formed
by President Duterte to propose var-
ious Constitutional reforms will for-
mally present their recommendations
for the first time to the House com-
mittee on constitutional amendments
headed by Cagayan de Oro Congress-
mhn Rufus Rodriguez.
It's been a long and bruising ride
lor those of us who've provided
support for this cause, in one form
or anol.her, ever since Duterte took
office in 2016. Over that period, the
campaign has molphed: first, from a
single-minded focus on federalism, to
a diverse range of reforms today; and
second, from the objective of repl6c-
ing the 1987 Constitutjon wholesale,
to a more pragmatic approach of win-
ning what battles we can win today
while keeping our powder dry for the
original target.
Today seems to be an auspicious
moment to summarize the area of
proposed reform that seeks to reduce
if not dismantle the protectionist lan-
guage in the 1987 Constitution that
discriminates against foreign inves-
tors based solely on their alien citi-
zenship. That's always been my as-
signment, buttressed to a great deg€c
by the intellects of my fellow ,,raging
increnrentalists" in the Foundation foi
Ec*nouiicb'lr:rriom.
In {iiir;, th*:..r ols the i$flrin Friiirt$
4, 2o2o
we've been making, and which are
thankfully now echoed by much of
the President's economic manage-
ment team:
***
One: the Philippines is the most re-
sfiictive against foreign direct invest-
ment (FDI), globally as well as just
within the region (ranked number I
in botfr cases), based on a 2014 FDI
regulatory r€striction index compiled
by the Deparhnent of Finance. More
recently, as of20l8, World Banft data
over the preceding l0 years shows
that FDI into the Philippines only av-
eraged 1.6 pct of irs GDP, the lowest
within the entire ASEAN where the
average was 5,89 percent.
#EF_
11 ay opening o-ur doiors,
we would be encouraqing
the entry oJforeign
- eign ownership". This was echoed
investors who do not like
to break the law.ll
T\yo: Not surprisingly therefore,
the Philippines also lags the iest cif
its peer group of the six largest ASE-
AN members when it comes to the
quality of its infiashuctue, based on
a 2015 global ranking conducted by
the World Economic Forum. Not-only
are we the bottom dweller overall; we
are also the bottom dweller in each
and every category of inhaslructure
surveyed-from roads to ports to !e-
lcphony.
Three: As s lssuh 0i poor Fl)I snd
ili,.tirr,Stui!'rrifg,,iotv; r,l*, f*i'i,en and
* loAqa-A.f ,
Opinion
poverty is higher. Over l0 million Fil-
ipinos now work abroad, whether per-
manently or temporarily. As of2015,
we were tle only country to fail to cut
our poverty rite by half in the pre=
ceding 25 years. One might of course
object that self-rated poverry has in
fact dropBed substantially since, un-
der Dut€rte, This of course begs the
question of horv much faster, or how
much earlier, the improvbment might
have unfolded with the right econon-
ic policies.
Four: Duterte himself is no strang-
er io, let alone enemy of, the idea
of liberalizing. The ten-point agen-
da he brought into office in 2016
included the follo*ing as its third
item: "Increasing
"competiliveness
and thrj ease of doing business...as
well as pursuing the relaxation ofthe
Constitutional restrictions on for-
by both local business groups and
foreign chambers of commerce, in-
dicating the underlying soundness
ofthe idea.
The record thus shows that citi-
zenship-based restrictions on foreign
investment are binding conshaints
to growth, They have importantly
contributed to lower investments,
fewer jobs, poor infrashucture, and
non-inclusive development. Today,
when a global economy is changing
eVen faster because oftechnology and
cross-border operiness, it does us no
good to remain inflexible and unre-
sponsive because of decades-old re-
strictions hard-wired into nothing less
than the basic law of the land.
Cohtinuod tomorrow