Economic amendments in the Constitution

TUESDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 2011 19:42 ZOILO ‘BINGO’ DEJARESCO III / FREE ENTERPRISE

SENATE President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte think some economic provisions in the Constitution must be changed; President Noynoy Aquino does not think so.

Our beef is some of them need serious review, sans xenophobia. Traces of infantile nationalism and over-zealous protectionism reek in some areas-influenced by the zealots who framed the 1935 and 1987 constitutions.

Our basic contention is that a Third World country like ours needs to attract foreign investments and attention to move out of poverty. Foreign investments provide jobs that create higher per capita income and employment that will drive domestic investment to follow because there would be more moneyed consumers to buy goods and services.

Besides, as MVP (Pangilinan) said the huge number of 95 million Filipinos is economically meaningless if they have no money to spend. We have to rev up the economy first.

What specific Constitutional amendments ought to be made to attract foreign investments into the country then?

Foreigners ought to be able to own land in the country. As of now they can only own condominiums or lease land for 50 years, renewable for another final 25 years.

We should not fear their owning land because they can never bring land out of the country. They have no choice but make land productive, to benefit the country.

Educational institutions must be allowed to be owned by foreign interests. Our brightest minds need not go abroad nor the poor but talented be prevented to do scholarly work due to the prohibitive cost of studying in universities of higher learning abroad.

Think about educational tourism (remember the teeming Korean students?) and how many talented teachers and researchers will be drawn into our shores and elevate the level of education in this country which is generally below par.

We are an inexpensive country to live (using foreign currency) and has the added advantage of having English as our second language. Even our maids and drivers do speak passable English.

We are for the opening of our country to foreign health-care companies and other professionals to raise the level of competence and capital adequacy of many health-related systems.

We are for the opening of the banking system to more foreign banks. As Manny Villar, a self-made businessman, had said the Philippine banking system is controlled largely by only six families, each driven by vested interests.

Competition will improve interest rates and services in banking and the presence of foreign universal banks will open the floodgates for investments of foreign banks into Philippine companies, given especially their larger capacity for bigger deals.

In the field of mining, which will be the next “big thing” in this country, we need foreign capital and technology to develop this fifth richest nation in the world in terms of natural resources. The same is true with manufacturing.

Instead of the existing 40-percent limitation of foreign ownership in these two giant industries, we are for a 60-40 percent reverse ceiling in favor of foreign ownership except that Filipinos should have at least 60 percent of the voting rights.

Moreover, foreign-controlled firms exploiting our resources should have some profit repatriation limitations. Otherwise, superior foreign capital will simply just mine our resources to death, with all the profits thereof remitted to their mother countries.

Sharing of mining profits with local government units and mandated social investments like schools and low-cost housing in the host communities should be required of these foreign-controlled firms.

We do not favor the control of media by foreign firms. Because of the fast communication technology today, there is no sense for a CNN and a BBC to go into local TV or New York Times into newspapers since news anywhere in the world can be carried by most media outlets in a blink of an eye.

What value added will these foreign media entities bring to the country’s mass media by controlling the ownership?

These are all meritorious points of discussion as to the constitutional changes.

But at the end of the day, the cleansing of the bureaucracy of corruption, improved infrastructure and the consistent fairness of the justice system will be equally important criteria for foreigners to take a second hard look at the Philippines.

Revising these economic provisions, however, will be a first major step.

Any sponsors in Congress?