By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Apprehensive that foreign investments will be affected if the Supreme Court declares the amended Public Services Act unconstitutional, former SC Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Friday (12 April 2024) said charter change (Cha-Cha) is now needed to allow foreigners to own public utilities.
Under the 1987 Constitution, foreigners may only own up to 40% of public utilities but Carpio noted that the amended Public Services Act allows 100% foreign ownership of public services such as telecommunications and railways, among others.
“They redefined the term public utility. Public utility is limited to this, but all the rest will now be considered public services. Now, we all know that Supreme Court is the final interpreter of the Constitution,” Carpio noted.
The retired magistrate pointed out that the law reclassifies telecommunications, railways, airlines, and logistical facilities as public services from their previous classification as public utilities.
“A lot of foreigners have come in and they believed in the law. If the Supreme Court will say it is unconstitutional, what happens to the investments here? I think it will take us decades to recover from this blunder. Foreign investors will not come in because they fear that there is no rule of law here,” Carpio quipped.
He pointed out that the primordial power of the Supreme Court is to interpret the law and “without that, the Supreme Court is nothing.”
“If I were in the Supreme Court now, I would declare it unconstitutional because that is the very essence of judicial power, to interpret the Constitution. So my fear is that the Supreme Court will strike down the amended Public Service Act,” Carpio said.
(El Amigo/MNM)
