Allowing ‘limited’ foreign ownership of land needed to boost investments —Quimbo

Allowing foreign ownership of land in the Philippines is a necessary step to attract more investments, Marikina City Representative Stella Quimbo said on Wednesday.

"Kung binuksan po natin ang ating bansa in allowing foreigners to buy of course there's a possibility na sila naman—ang foreigners naman—ang mag-landbanking. Kung papayagan man natin ang foreign ownership ng lupa, eh kailangan natin lagyan ng limits," Quimbo, an economist, said during a hearing on Charter change in the House of Representatives.

Putting in place "very concrete" limits such as disallowing foreigners to acquire lands in military areas, or giving the state the power to forfeit "passive" foreign ownership of land within a certain period, she said.

"We need to relax our rules and allow exemptions to land ownership by foreigners and this is one way to attract foreign capital away from countries like Vietnam," said Quimbo. "We need to compete for foreign capital. That's the reality."

She added that she agrees with critics who question the timeliness of the charter amendment: "Kung 'yung sinasabi ng mga kritiko na now is not the time to do this, siguro agree ako na now is not the time dahil dapat kahapon pa."

Economist Ernesto Pernia, former chief of the National Economic and Development Authority, added that lawmakers should consider a model wherein foreigners will only be allowed to own land in the Philippines if they would use it for economic activity.

"I think it should be a tied purchase of land. I think even in Vietnam, if it's tied to the setting up of manufacturing industry, I think it is allowed there. But if just buying land per se, without any purpose of using it for an economic activity, it's not a good idea. So that is what we should prevent from happening,"  Pernia said.

The provision on foreign ownership of land in the 1987 Constitution is among the economic provisions which some lawmakers intend to amend through the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 2.

Under the said resolution, the phrase "unless otherwise provided by law" will be included in the provision that reserves certain areas of investments to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations at least 60% of whose capital are owned by Filipinos.

The same phrase is also added in the provisions which limit ownership of educational institutions and mass media to Filipinos.

Further, the measure introduces the same phrase to the provision allowing the State to undertake exploration, development, and utilization activities on the country's natural resources. — BM, GMA News