Equal interest

Reciprocity should be central to any proposal to end Filipinos’ constitutional entitlements to exclusive ownership of strategic industries.

As the economy booms, making more Filipinos affluent, the government must pursue reciprocity with other nations to prepare for domestic companies or the country’s citizens to invest overseas.

Retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, in a forum on Charter change or cha-cha, said opening up the economy by relaxing the foreign ownership provisions in the Constitution must be complemented by seeking similar access to other economies.

The court veteran, who had written several decisions on economic questions and had spearheaded the campaign for the country’s entitlements in the West Philippine Sea, said reciprocity should be a rule in inviting more foreign capital into the country.

“Reciprocity should be central to any proposal to end Filipinos’ constitutional entitlements to exclusive ownership of strategic industries,” Carpio posited.

Congress is currently deliberating on resolutions that seek to append the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” to relax provisions in the Constitution that restrict foreign ownership.

Carpio said that if the country’s vital services, such as public utilities, are opened to foreign ownership, then Filipinos must also have the same privilege abroad.

“It would be crazy to open up, but we cannot buy into their companies,” he said.

He cited the 12 million Filipinos living overseas who face restrictions on ownership unless they become citizens of their host nations.

Nonetheless, Carpio expressed support for the aim of the resolutions since, among the country’s neighbors, such limiting provisions are not contained in their charters.

Boundaries on ownership are part of the legislation in other countries that allow for flexibility that could be attained here, according to Carpio, by amending the provisions to include the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law.”

Filipinos should be given the same opportunity in other countries, particularly those that would benefit from relaxing constitutional limitations.

It would be up to the government, however, to negotiate terms favorable to Filipino investors. It could leverage Congress’s earnest effort to invite foreign businesses.

“If Congress would allow 100 percent foreign ownership of economic sectors, then Filipinos must also be able to own 100 percent of the same businesses in the countries of these investors,” Carpio suggested.

For instance, he said it would be unfair for Filipinos to allow full ownership of local businesses to investors from Vietnam and China, where foreigners cannot own more than 49 percent of critical services, like airports, telecommunications and electric companies.

While Carpio expressed support for relaxing the Constitution’s economic provisions, he indicated that this pursuit would likely be questioned by the Supreme Court.

However, the challenge can’t be raised until the House and the Senate approve their respective versions of the cha-cha resolutions.

The House of Representatives met a self-imposed deadline to pass a second reading Resolution of Both Houses 7 on 13 March. Still, the Senate has not set a rigid timeline for the Resolution of Both Houses 6.

Thus, Carpio said the legislative action cannot be questioned before the Supreme Court until both resolutions are passed.

The demand for equal treatment has been an issue since the Philippines obtained independence from the United States in 1946.

Before it let go of the colony, the American Congress passed the Bell Trade Act of 1946, also known as the Philippine Trade Act, which specified the conduct of trade between the Philippines and the United States.

In exchange for $800 million in aid to reconstruct the World War II-devastated nation, the act required that the 1935 Constitution be amended to allow American companies parity in economic rights. The Philippine Congress approved the measure on 2 July, two days before independence from the United States.

On 18 September 1946, Filipinos approved in a plebiscite to amend the Constitution.

Reciprocity is necessary to prevent the recurrence of an experience when Filipino businesses are fried in their own lard.

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