QUEZON City Rep. Alfred Vargas has welcomed the House of Representatives’ move to revive its deliberations on amending economic provisions in the Constitution, stressing that foreign investments will be needed to sustain the country’s pandemic recovery efforts.
“We need to address the provisions that restrict foreign investment in our country. The bottomline is, close to 11 million Filipinos have lost their jobs. We have limited resources, and we cannot continue to rely on foreign debt to tide us over. Foreign investments will be crucial in our recovery,” Vargas said.
Vargas, chair of the House social services committee, said the country stands to benefit from easing restrictions that limit the participation of foreign investors, especially as FDIs have been proven to be more resilient to economic uncertainties and financial crises.
FDIs would be instrumental in jumpstarting massive job-generating sectors such as manufacturing, infrastructure development, and agriculture, and would spur countryside growth, said Vargas.
He added that more FDIs would result in key technology and knowledge transfer, besides contributing to human capital development through employee training.
Profits generated by FDIs would also be another source of revenue through corporate taxes, he also said.
Vargas, however, urged the government to also address other areas that hamper foreign investments.
“Removing the restrictive economic provisions is only one aspect. There are various other areas that need improvement if we are to become a preferred destination for foreign investment,” said Vargas.
He said that the country should continue improving in the ease of doing business by streamlining procedures in starting a business, eliminating red tape and corruption, bringing down the cost of electricity and improving connectivity, and rectifying regulatory inconsistencies.
He lauded the administration for making significant strides in addressing these issues, noting that the Philippines jumped to 95th place from 124th in the previous year in the World Bank’s 2020 Ease of Doing Business Report.
