European businessmen send appeals to Duterte

EUROPEAN businesses operating in the country are banking on the next administration to help ease the highly restrictive provisions on foreign ownership under the Philippine Constitution.

“The new administration will hopefully be effective in implementing its [10-point] economic agenda, which we support, especially [those that will] ensure the attractiveness of the Philippines to foreign direct investments by addressing restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution and our laws,” said Henry V. Schumacher, vice president for the European Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines (ECCP).

Schumacher said the business community was pleased the Aquino administration passed important economic laws which, if properly implemented, would help business become more competitive and effective. He specifically lauded the creation of the Philippine Competition Commission.

“It will be interesting to see how the newly established [antitrust body] handles the $1.5 billion telco deal which cements the duapoly that nobody wants and how the PCC addresses the unfair practices of the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board,” Schumacher told the Inquirer.

The ECCP also called for a “more liberal” Labor Code that still allowed the practice of contractualiza- tion. Schumacher said the government should instead prevent the abuses under such a scheme.

During the campaign, Duterte had vowed to end contractualization or the “end of contract (endo)” scheme. Under the scheme, workers are hired for five months without the security of tenure and benefits. They will then be rehired under the same circumstances.

“There will definitely be repercussions; employment will go down. Especially the BPO industry, which employs a million people, will be affected as most of its staff are hired under contractual arrangements. It has to be assumed that BPO companies would have to leave the country,” Shumacher warned.