Shipping, telecommunications, airlines, expressways and railways in the Philippines will now be open to full foreign ownership after president Rodrigo Duterte on Monday signed a new law law amending the 85-year-old Public Service Act (PSA), which had hitherto capped these sectors to a 40% foreign ownership.
“I believe that through this law, the easing of foreign equity restrictions, we will attract more global investors, modernize several sectors of public service, and improve the delivery of essential services,” Duterte said.
An archipelago made up of more than 7,000 islands, the Philippines has a rich maritime heritage, and is a world renowned supplier of crews, but has never had a strong, globally recognised shipping line brand.
The devil will be in the detail.
You mean the corruption?
If Philippines wanted to make life easier to shipowners they should look into certification of domestic vessels.
Now there are no domestic classification societies, all “thrown” out by MARINA. Now only a few IACS are authorized to issue class certificates. They are not authorized to issue statutory certificates, only MARINA can do that.
There are 2-3 non-IACS classification societies authorized to fully survey and issue all class, statutory, ism, isps, mlc… for all Philippine flagged vessels, irrespective of size and type, but they are not allowed to even class smallest tugs or barges in domestic trade. I have not yet found anybody who understands this.
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If Philippines wanted to make life easier to shipowners they should look into certification of domestic vessels. Now there are no domestic classification societies, all “thrown” out by MARINA. Now only a few IACS are authorized to issue class certificates. They are not authorized to issue statutory certificates, only MARINA can do that. There are 2-3 non-IACS classification societies authorized to fully survey and issue all class, statutory, ism, isps, mlc… for all Philippine flagged vessels trading internationally*, irrespective of size and type, but they are not allowed to even class smallest tugs or barges in domestic trade. I have not yet found anybody who understands this.
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When I first moved to the Philippines, I learned of thos 40% ownership law. That was only the tip of what is clearly an attempt at making money off of someone else’s business disguised as protecting Filipinos. From that law to a long list of what I saw and feel are unfairly punitive to none Filipino residents of the Philippines.
I am married to a Filipina and a permanent resident of the Philippines, yet there are so many restrictions on what I can and can’t do in the Philippines. Nevertheless, there is no restrictions on Filipinos and the Philippines spending my money. Filipinos are welcome to come to my country of origin and buy all the land and guns they can. I’m married to a Filipino and I can’t own practically anything in the Philippines.