Foreign business backs amending Charter economic provisions but wary of politics

Foreign business backs amending Charter economic provisions but wary of politics

MANILA, Philippines: The Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines supports the move to amend the apparent “restrictive” economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution but heated debate on Charter change (Cha-cha) worries some JFC members also.

Sen. Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes, continued on Monday the discussion on Resolution of Both Houses 6 to amend some economic provisions in the Charter.

The JFC is a coalition of the American, Australian-New Zealand, Canadian, European, Japanese and Korean chambers of commerce in the Philippines and the Philippine Association of Multinational Companies Headquarters Inc.

The group represents over 3,000 member-companies engaged in trade and investment.

Julian Payne, Canadian Chamber of Commerce president, represented the JFC in the RBH 6 hearing, together with Florian Gottein, European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines executive director.

“The Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce supports the easing on foreign direct investments (FDIs) wherever this is possible,” Payne said.

“We are of the opinion that the removal of economic restrictions would facilitate the increase of the FDI in sectors where such investment is currently restricted,” he said.

Gottein said that amending the Constitution is purely a Filipino matter.

“If the Filipino people decide to amend the Constitution we would actually be in favor of removing the economic restrictions from the Constitution,” he said.

Sen. Mary Grace Poe asked the JFC representatives whether their members expressed concern over the issues surrounding Cha-cha.

Gottein said, “We got some calls from some of our members following the news and the political debate about how this might unfold or in which direction it could actually move further. So there is some uncertainty out there. Yes.”