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Social Media Gossipers' Ad Hominems Against Actor Robin Padilla Regarding His Proposal to Remove 60-40


Make no mistake that I didn't vote for Robin Padilla. I feel like I've had enough of voting for celebrities, athletes, and those who I felt are know-nothings in the legislative. However, Padilla recently had his proposal to remove the 60-40 restrictions regarding foreign direct investments (FDIs). Former Philippine Vice President Maria Leonor "Leni" Gerona-Robredo was even in favor of that amendment. I guess that's why Philippine economist Andrew James Masigan endorsed Robredo. I may have not endorsed Robredo while Masigan remains to be one of my favorite local sources.


The news from GMA News Online reveals these plans by Padilla himself:
Senator Robin Padilla said he wanted to revise the Constitution to scrap the 60-40 rule on foreign ownership of businesses to accelerate job creation and competition among industries.

In a Monday interview, Padilla said the move would attract more foreign investments to support the country’s economic recovery.

“Para sa akin mas mabubuksan ang market. Isipin mo ilang trade agreement ang kasama ang Pilipinas? Halos lahat kasama tayo pero meron tayong restriction sa foreign investment. Di ba walang logic?” he said.

(For me the market will be more open. Think about it. How many trade agreements include the Philippines? But we have restrictions on foreign investment. There's no logic to it, right?)

“Dapat kung kasama tayo sa trade agreements, dapat bukas tayo sa foreign investors. Yan ang 1+1. Ang nangyari nasaan ang foreign investor, nagbukas nga tayo ng trade agreements pero wala tayong foreign investors? Yan ang sinasabi ko, hindi tumutugma,” he added.

(If we are involved in trade agreements, we have to be open to foreign investors. That's 1+1. Where are the foreign investors? We are open to trade agreements, but we don't have foreign investors? That’s what I’m saying, it does not match.)

Last March, former President Rodrigo Duterte signed a law amending the Public Service Act, thus allowing 100% foreign ownership of telecommunications, railways, and other public services.

The new law reclassifies telecommunications, railways, airlines, and logistical facilities as public services from their previous classification as public utilities.

Under the 1987 Constitution, foreigners may only own up to 40% of public utilities.

Padilla argued that lifting economic restrictions that limit foreign investment into the country would provide Filipinos more opportunities.

“Sa aking palagay binigyan natin ng chance ang local businessmen for almost 30 years. Siguro hindi na yan kulang, binigay na natin lahat sa kanila. Ngayon bigyan natin ng chance, di naman ibig sabihin isasara sa local, magkakaroon sila na magandang competition. Ang gusto natin dito magkaroon ng trabaho,” he stressed.

(I think we have given local businessmen a chance for almost 30 years. Maybe that’s enough, we've given them every opportunity. Now let us give [foreigners] a chance. It does not mean we are shutting local businesses out. They will have decent competition. What we want is to create jobs.)

As to whether foreign direct investments would overwhelm small local industries, the Senator reiterated that his proposal would help local companies.

“Katulad ng sinabi ko ang makikinabang diyan tayo. Hindi pwedeng sasabihin natin kukumpetensyahin sila. Hindi ko nakita yan sa pinagaralan kong bansa. Ine-example ko ang Vietnam, kasi yan galing sila sa laglag. Pero di naapektuhan local nila, lalo pang gumanda ang produktong local nila. Nasa atin yan eh,” he said.

(Like I said, we will benefit from this. We cannot say they will compete at a disadvantage. I didn't see that in the countries I have studied. I'm taking the example of Vietnam, which came from a slump. But their local industries were not affected, their local products even improved. It's up to us.)

This just reminds me of the big reality that once we listen to politicians and laugh at comedians. Now, we laugh at politicians and listen to comedians. Padilla was once an ex-convict and later graduated with a degree in B.S. Criminology from the Philippine College of Criminology. Some people on Facebook (like a certain old engineer I met) have been throwing Ad Hominems regarding Padilla's status as an ex-convict. Yet, we might be surprised to learn some people who made it big were also ex-convicts. You may be surprised to Google "successful ex-convicts". If certain ex-convicts can do it--I don't see any reason why Padilla can't do it. I may have not voted for him since I dislike voting for celebrities. However, I agree with his statements at this point. It's just like Masigan may be a Pinklawan but he certainly makes sense about economic charter change.

The comments section of the post of GMA News shows utter ignorance. I guess that's the whole point about social media gossipers--they really make bad economists (read here). These guys tend to repeat the same old gossip all over again. Just updating on the pages of social media gossipers like Silent No More PH, Philippine Anti-Fascist League, and many others makes me think, "Do these guys even know the world market?" or "Is China the only country they know outside the Philippines?" I can go ahead and even talk about quotes by the late great Lee Kuan Yew (who some use to go against the Marcoses) or Kishore Mahbubani. Mahbubani's statements about foreign investments greatly differ from that of his fellow former UN Diplomat, Hilario G. Davide Jr. (read here). The comparison of the late John Gokongwei Jr. and Davide Jr. isn't much close to comparing Davide Jr. to Mahbubani. 

Padilla is right to mention Vietnam. Lee's book From Third World to First also mentioned Vietnam. The same book has Lee mentioning that if had they waited for their businesses to improve--they would've started. I feel Padilla needed to quote from the book From Third World to First to cite valid sources. I'm glad he mentioned Vietnam--a communist country that has accepted FDI, their local industries weren't affected, came out of a slump (suggesting that their local industry must've done bad, and their local products even improved. The Philippines' limited acceptance of FDI has allowed some Filipino businesses to become world-class. A good example is how Jollibee is now a worldwide franchise (read here). Jollibee faced many foreign food chains during its birth and then became a foreign food chain in other countries. 

Right now, I feel like I actually regret looking down at Padilla's candidacy. Sure, I didn't vote for him. However, I feel he's having more brain matter than the social media gossipers in the comments section. If these social media gossipers were so great--what's their real solution? Has their social media gossip made the Philippines a better place? Right now, we're already in the digital age so their arguments can now be refuted as more basic economics information is made more available. 

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