US pushing for charter change to allow US firms to operate freely in the country
“For several decades now, even with these restrictions in place, foreign investors and multinationals repatriated billions of dollars in profits without any real and substantial contribution to the domestic economy and social development.” Rep. Luz Ilagan, Gabriela Women’s Party
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – The Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) said the United States governments wants a sweeter deal than the ones the Philippines government gave China and Japan in recent months. President Benigno Aquino III signed an agreement allowing China to lease 1.2 million hectares of land for agricultural production; earlier, he also allowed Japanese corporations to lease one million hectares for bio-fuel production.
Pamalakaya made the assertion after reports came out that US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry K. Thomas Jr. has been quoted urging the Aquino administration to start deliberations on charter change and allow the passage of constitutional amendments so the Philippines can participate in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) group.
Last August, Thomas met with the media in a forum on Philippine-US relations organized by the Washington-based Asia Society. During the forum, Thomas was quoted as saying that the Philippines should amend its charter to allow foreign companies to have majority stakes in companies operating in the Philippines.
The 1987 Philippine Constitution provides that Filipinos should own majority shares (60 percent) in companies doing business in the country, especially those involved in strategic industries. This provision is being circumvented by subsequent issuances such as the Mining Act of 1995, which masks the mining operations of wholly-owned foreign mining companies as a partnership between the government and the foreign corporation. Nevertheless the said provision in the 1987 Constitution remains in force.
Thomas said the Aquino government should initiate moves to amend the 1987 charter and remove all provisions that restrict and prohibit foreign capital equity to the Philippines. The constitutional ban against 100 percent foreign ownership, said Thomas, is what bars the Philippines from joining the TPP.
The TPP is a Asia-Pacific trade organization which, Thomas said, could vastly expand Philippine markets, create jobs and reduce poverty. The US official said President Aquino sought US support for joining the TPP during his US visit last year.The TPP aims to eliminate tariffs among participating countries – Australia, Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the US – by 2015..... MORE
Source: Bulatlat.com
URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2011/09/22/us-pushing-for-charter-change-to-allow-us-firms-to-operate-freely-in-the-country/
1 comment
buwayang mandaragit talaga itong kalbong agilang ito. wala, pabagsak na rin kayo.
ang laking korupsyon at daming anti.people na pinasang batas nitong si tabako, tapos itong kaliwa nakipagalyansa sa kanya at iba pang kalbong agila agents para patalsikin si erap na nagalis ng sovereign guarantess sa contract (not to mention his anti.u.s. bases stance). naku.
"Also during the time of Ramos, the Mining Act of 1995 was enacted; the country also joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) after ratifying the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1994. The Ramos administration also approved the Bank Liberalization Law of 1994, the Build-Operate-Transfer Law of 1994, the Oil Deregulation Act of 1997 and the Investment Liberalization Act of 1997, which Pamalakaya said were shotgun pieces of legislation."
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