WASHINGTON: Philippine Vice President Jejomar Binay, said on Thursday he favoured relaxing constitutional restrictions on foreign investment to create jobs.
Binay, who has been preparing a run for the past two years and has a strong following among poor Filipinos, was asked after a speech at a Washington think tank if he would support constitutional changes to promote foreign investment.
“Personally I am in favor of revisiting the constitution of the Philippines, particularly that portion of the 60-40 requirement of investors in the Philippines,” he said, adding that the aim was to overcome unemployment and poverty.
“More investment, more employment,” he said.
The so-called 60-40 rule in the 1987 constitution limits foreign ownership of local firms to 40 percent and is blamed for the low level of foreign direct investment in the Philippines.
President Benigno Aquino has not addressed the issue and Philippines Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima indicated this month that the president did not intend to do so in the remainder of his term. Among other things, the restriction has prevented the Philippines from joining 12 other nations involved in negotiations on a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) aimed at regionwide market opening.
Binay, who has spent the week in Washington, said the Philippines wanted more job-generating US investment, of which it was receiving less than any of its partners in the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
REUTERS
