Speaker changes tune on Cha-cha, backs foreign long-term lease

Manila may take the cue from Vietnam in terms of foreign direct investments, Speaker Mart in Romualdez said, apparently taking a slightly different path on Charter change.

- DELON PORCALLA

After being silent on the issue for a few months, Romualdez yesterday said he is in favor of allowing foreign investors to lease Philippine lands on a long-term basis.

“I’ll join Senate President Francis Escudero on his initiative here on the Foreign Investors Long-term Lease Law,” the leader of the 310-member House of Representatives told Teleradyo.

The Speaker’s stand is a deviation from the House-approved Resolution of Both Houses 7 (RBH 7), where prohibitive economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution are eased in order to entice more foreign direct investments.

“This (long-term lease) is one step where we can hopefully attract foreign investors, where they no longer need to buy lands because we will be giving them a long-term lease contract on the lands they want to utilize,” Romualdez, fully aware of the delicate issue of foreign land ownership, explained.