Chacha an addendum

One of the biggest reasons why people are cold to the Cha-cha is because its strongest proponents, our legislators, center their agenda on amending its political provisions like extension of their term limit, a change to parliamentary form of government, or a unicameral legislature just to name a few.

If, at all, there is a political provision that needs amendment, it would have to be the issue of political dynasty. One of the triumphs of the present Constitution is its indomitable stance against political clouts and oligarchs.

For the longest time, since the promulgation of the Constitution, we have yet to pass an implementing law against political dynasties to give meaning and substance to our pursuit for equal opportunity in government service.

“The dominance of entrenched family clans in politics and the economy should be reduced to make politics and economics more transparent and competitive.” says the Bertelsmann Foundation, in its newly released biennial Bertelsmann Transformation Index for this year, (with gratitude and kind acknowledgement to Mr. Jose Galang for supplying this research culled from the Philippine Daily Inquirer in his article on ABS-CBN.com).

Of course, as I was saying last week, the most compelling reason for us to embrace Charter change is to drive more foreign capital to come to our shores and create employment along the way. But since we only allow foreign investors to own only 40 percent of their business, they usually end up getting “dummies” to stand for the 60 percent only to be rid-off and ripped off of their own money later. The prohibition on land ownership by foreigners also stunts not only the full potential of the real estate sector, but also of the construction and tourism. You cannot expect Disney or Universal Studios to put up their amusement parks here if they cannot keep them for the long term.

We should extend the same privilege to foreigners who are well meaning to develop our industries.

Should we be afraid that foreign companies will eventually dominate most of our industries and kill our very own entrepreneurs? If I may ask, since when did McDonalds win over Jollibee in a business that (McDonalds) originally started? I think we should be most afraid of when we continue to believe that we cannot compete globally. The success of Happee toothpaste dispels all notions of our mediocrity as entrepreneurs; that we can be great even amidst the pack of the greatest.

But should we open all industries to full foreign ownership?  There are industries that should only be reserved for Filipino exploitation, such as our ocean resources. Minerals and energy exploration should be considered “vital” for now. Energy generation should be open as well to foreign players to encourage exploration of alternative or renewable energies.

Should print or broadcast media be open to full foreign ownership? A lot of press people I know are wary of the liberalization of the media more so of full ownership of the same. While we do not see as yet some serious interest of foreign players to compete with local media, I think it’s best to give a clear dichotomy of its many issues which I would like to discuss in my next column. But just to give you a hint, I am for the liberalization of the media.

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Leuterio Realty and Rent.ph together with the Philippine Bank of Communications invite real estate practitioners to a free seminar on how to make money in home, personal and car loans. The seminar entitled, The Next Big Thing in Real Estate, opens new possibilities to people in real estate practice to explore the rewarding opportunity in consumer loans which can be offered to their existing clients.

The seminar will be on August 30, 2014, at the grand ballroom of Crown Regency Hotel – Guadalupe. For reservations, shoot me an email and I will reserve a seat for you.