PH has most restrictive foreign investment rules in Asean – Teves

 (AFP file photo)

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is already the most-restrictive country in the Asean region in terms of allowing foreign investments and foreign ownership, former finance secretary Margarito Teves said on Wednesday. 

“We are the most restrictive in ASEAN, and Vietnam, which has made substantial liberalization, is the least restrictive. We are No. 3 globally,” Teves said during the roundtable forum hosted by the House of Representatives Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD).

Hence, Teves said he and the Foundation for Economic Freedom — which he represented in the discussions — support moves to amend restrictive economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution.

“Remove those from the Constitution. We are the only country in ASEAN and perhaps in the entire world with those restrictions in the Constitution,” he added.

UP economics professor and national scientist Raul Fabella shared Teves’ sentiments, saying that the Philippines has an “anti-investment ecology” that effectively hinders the country’s efforts to attract foreign capital — a view noted by fellow economics professor and Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo previously.

Quimbo moderated the forum.

“The task before this generation and this administration is to reverse this decadal march to the bottom of the investment ladder,” Fabella said.

According to Fabella, there are also other factors — like high cost of electricity, bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption, the rule of law, and infrastructure — which affect investments.