Stability in business

The Philippines may be 87th among 141 countries in terms of the best countries for business. But to beat the likes of China and India is definitely a feat in itself.

The Forbes’ list ranked countries based on a number of factors, including trade freedom, monetary freedom, property rights, innovation, technology, red tape, investor protection, corruption, personal freedom, tax burden, and market performance.

Businessmen consider a number of things before deciding where to locate their businesses. True, the Philippines used to have cheap labor, but not any more. What we have that’s better is probably our skilled workforce, our English proficiency, but in terms of costs, ours is far from being competitive, especially in terms of power.

Just recently, various foreign chambers of commerce  warned about the possible adverse effects of a recent Supreme Court decision which changes the manner by which the amount of foreign equity in so-called partially nationalized companies is computed.

In denying the motion for reconsideration filed by the respondents in the Gamboa case, the SC said in an obiter dictum that for each class of shares, the 60-40 (Filipino-foreign ownership percentage) rule in the case of public utilities will have to apply.

What’s bothersome is that in implementing the SC ruling, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decided to include the obiter dictum portion instead of just limiting itself to the dispositive portion, which merely ordered the SEC to determine whether PLDT is compliant with the ruling that the 60-percent Filipino ownership portion should include only voting shares.

When rules change midstream, businesses get worried. Big businesses think and plan long term and stability in the business arena and in government policies is very important.

Stability is also important when it comes to the application of laws and rules.

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