Constitutional political economy of foreign investment in the Philippines

Originally livestreamed on the Facebook page of The CoRRECT Movement on February 21, 2021 (the 35th anniversary of EDSA), this discussion with Orion Perez Dumdum covers the political economy of constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership in key sectors of the Philippines. CoRRECT stands for Constitutional Reform and Rectification for Economic Competitiveness and Transformation. It is a study group that espouses reforms in the Philippine Constitution of 1987.

The show notes used to structure the discussion are found here.

SEC's Ruling on Rappler

The revocation of Rappler's certificate of incorporation by the Securities and Exchange Commission is contained in SEC Resolution 437, Series of 2017 dated 8 July 2017.

Central to the decision was whether Rappler had ceded control over the corporate policy and management of the company to a foreign party. The Philippine constitution requires mass media companies to be wholly owned by Filipinos.

Rappler was found by the SEC en banc to be in breach of the Anti-Dummy Act, the Mass Media Law, and the Foreign Investments Act.

Towards a well-informed public debate over this latest controversy involving the media outfit, the SEC's decision in its entirety is found below. The document may also be accessed on the SEC's archive of decisions for 2018 here.