Vision
PCCI is the voice of Philippine business recognized by government and international institutions. As a proactive catalyst of development, PCCI promotes and supports the drive for globally competitive Philippine enterprises in partnership with government, local chambers, and other business organizations.
Mission
The main responsibility of PCCI is to provide focused advocacy for business growth and sustainable development by providing business services for the advancement of grassroots entrepreneurship, chamber development, international trade relations, business innovation and excellence, and operating efficiency. These will be achieved through a professional organization working in close cooperation with various stakeholders in public and private sectors.
Call for Congress to Ratify Public Service Act amendments
We thank and laud the Philippine Senate and the House of Representatives for passing on 3rd reading the proposed bills seeking amendment of the 1936 Public Service Act (PSA). This reform is one of the key policy measures for promoting foreign direct investment (FDI) in the country and enabling the economy to attain even pre-pandemic rates of economic growth.
We, representing the major Philippine business groups, strongly support the ratification of the consolidated bill by the Congress before the start of its campaign recess on February 5, 2022. In this regard, in unity with the positions of other business groups supporting the passage of the amended PSA, we highly encourage the Congressional Bicameral Conference Committee to adopt the most liberal provisions between the two versions in line with the following sectors:
1. Airports and seaports: Operations and maintenance concessions should be allowed for fully foreign-owned companies. The world’s best airport and seaport operators could bring world-class standards and technology to serve the Philippine public who travel by air and sea.
2. Tollways/expressways: These vital logistic arteries should be liberalized for foreign investment in the same way as railways and subways. The Senate version classifies tollways as a public utility but not railroad and subways. This is illogical. Indonesia is seeking foreign investors for its 2,818-kilometer Trans-Sumatra Toll Road with 24 segments costing US$34 billion. The Philippines could do the same.
3. Air carriers – It is essential to lift the foreign ownership restriction to allow an option for our existing air carriers to access foreign capital in case they need it to help them recover from the pandemic and improve or expand their operations. Lifting the restrictions will also lay down an enabling environment for more players, thereby increasing competition in the industry and reducing the cost and improving the quality of air travel for the public, and making our air carriers competitive with international air carriers.
4. Telecommunications must be excluded from the definition of public utility. Likewise, the exclusion of passive infrastructure and value-added services from the definition of “telecommunications” to avoid erecting a new and substantial barrier to the entry of competition in the market for internet services which would stifle the growth of community internet.
5. Public Utility Vehicles (PUVs) should also be excluded from the definition of “public utilities.” In no way are they natural monopolies. This reform will be advantageous to the Philippine economy as it will increase competition in vital domestic land transportation services and result in increased foreign investment helping to modernize the industry. Filipino workers in land transportation businesses would not be displaced as they will remain as drivers and mechanics that service PUVs. Moreover, this reform should allow international carriers to undertake their first and last mile of delivery services to pick up and deliver to customers in the Philippines, as they do in most of the world. Allowing this will encourage these global firms to invest more in international gateways, as they have at Clark, and increase the role of the Philippines as a regional air cargo hub, which in turn will attract new export manufacturing firms to locate in the country. Overall, this reform can result in improvement in the quality and cost of logistics in the country, thereby increasing our economic competitiveness.
6. The reciprocity provision should not prevent important foreign investment from coming to the Philippines, as could the Senate bill provision. When the Philippine economy needs more foreign capital, the law should not require that a Filipino firm be allowed the same in the country of the investor. The reciprocity provision should not be a barrier to needed investment.
We believe that the ‘justified concerns’ of policy-makers in government for national security should be satisfied by the language in the Senate bill, which restricts state-owned enterprises (SOEs) from owning public services and creates a process for all foreign investments in public services to be reviewed and approved by the president.