By Junex Doronio
MANILA — Seeing a lot of undeveloped lands outside Metro Manila and other major cities, former Finance Secretary Gary Teves on Friday said lawmakers should seriously consider allowing foreigners to own land in the Philippines as among the amendments to the economic provisions of the Constitution.
Teves made the statement on the heels of the renewed push for Charter change (Cha-Cha) via the People’s Initiative (PI).
“I feel strongly about it because having seen several areas in the Philippines outside of the major ones like Metro Manila, there are quite several undeveloped land,” he noted.
Teves was appointed as Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary in July 2005 by then President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, following a mass resignation of her economic team.
The former finance chief reasoned out that allowing foreigners to own in the Philippines might create more jobs for Filipinos.
“If a foreign investor will put up a house, then there will be employment because he needs plumbers and he needs carpenters. If he needs it to put up a factory, then there will be jobs that will be created,” Teves said.
However, he admitted that deciding which parcels of land can be sold to foreigners must be data-driven.
“For example, we need to get that Land Use Bill approved, and then this bill will then indicate to us, the policymakers, which areas can be purchased by the foreign investors,” Teves further said.
He said Metro Manila and other cities that are congested and have high prices of land should be exempted if foreigners are allowed to own land in the country.
(el Amigo/MNM)
