While the Marcos administration is expected to highlight reforms aimed at opening the Philippine economy in its engagement with investors attending the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit, the event is not the right venue to discuss moves to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution, Trade Secretary Alfredo Pascual said yesterday.

Asked if the proposals seeking to make the Constitution more lenient to investors would be mentioned during the economic team's meetings with businesses here, Pascual said the issue is an 'internal matter' to the Philippines.

'I don't think an international forum like what we have today will be the forum to talk about it,' Pascual told reporters.

Pressed if he is in favor of economic charter change, Pascual replied: 'Personally I have expressed my support.'

Efforts to amend the Charter during previous administrations did not succeed. The attempts were greeted with suspicion, with some sectors claiming such amendments would lead to the lifting of the term limits of officials.

Last week, leaders of the House of Representatives made a fresh push for Charter change, citing the need to relax provisions that limit foreign ownership in some industries.

Speaker Martin Romualdez, cousin of President Marcos, said the economic provisions of the Constitution would be revisited next year.

Last Friday, Marcos acknowledged that there are economic provisions that are getting in the way of potential investments.

'What we are looking at here is the opportunity cost of those who would like to invest here but somehow the laws that derived from the Constitution when it comes to the economic provisions do not allow them to or make it non-viable for them,' he said in a media interview.

The President and his officials are expected to promote the Philippines as an investment destination during business meetings to be held on the sidelines of the summit.

While officials are unlikely to cite Charter change as among the policies being readied to attract investors, they are nevertheless expected to put forward measures aimed at facilitating the entry of more foreign investors to the country.

Pascual said these include amending the Public Services Act to allow full foreign ownership of firms involved in telecommunications, shipping, air carriers, railways, subways, airports and toll roads; as well as the implementing rules and regulations for the Renewable Energy Act to allow 100 percent ownership of renewable energy projects.

'The common usual expression we use is that the Philippines is open for business and we have undertaken several reforms to open the economy to foreign investments,' Pascual said.

According to Pascual, the government continues to follow up on investment pledges made during Marcos' foreign trips.

He said at least 17 investment leads have gone through registration with the Board of Investments (BOI) or the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), while nine are already operating in the Philippines.

'And there are others that have completed registration. They have been approved by BOI or PEZA so they are starting the process of bringing in investments,' Pascual said.

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