Two Senate panels are poised to review government’s foreign investment rules to beef up the current investment regime and make it “more adaptable to global business demands and trends,” Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian said over the weekend.
Gatchalian earlier announced the Senate Committees on Trade and on Economic Affairs were set to convene their initial joint hearing on Tuesday but said on Sunday this had to be reset “to a later date due to conflicting schedules.”
In pushing for the Senate review, Gatchalian asserted the need for a “conscious and aggressive effort from the government to address the deficiencies deterring the smooth inflow” of foreign direct investments in the country.
The joint committee inquiry was triggered by Sen. Grace Poe’s Resolution 73, paving the way for the lawmakers’ initiative to update Republic Act 7042, also known as the Foreign Investments Act, in order to “make the Philippines a competitive haven for investments and a preferred place of business for top multinational corporations.”
In a statement, Gatchalian prodded fellow lawmakers to “take advantage of the good economic performance of the country by further harnessing the country’s potential for foreign investment.”
The senator suggested “this starts by reviewing and updating our laws to encourage the influx of foreign capital through the development of a more friendly investment climate.”
Gatchalian confirmed that among the resource persons from relevant agencies expected to testify at the upcoming Senate review are top officials of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Finance, National Economic and Development Authority, the Bureau of Customs, the Professional Regulation Commission, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, the Board of Investments, the Insurance Commission, the Department of Labor and Employment, the Philippine Competition Commission, the Bases Conversion and Development Authority, the Clark Development Corp. and the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.
He added that other stakeholders and organizations being invited to give inputs at the Senate hearing are the Joint Foreign Chambers, the European Union, the Department for International Trade of the British Embassy, the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the Foundation for Economic Freedom, and academic institutions like the Ateneo de Manila University and the University of Asia and the Pacific.
