MANILA (AFP) – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said yesterday he has ordered a study on whether the country’s constitution needed to be revised to draw more foreign investment.
In his first public comments on the politically charged issue since becoming president last year, Marcos said certain laws drawn from the constitution either ban or discourage foreign investors from some parts of the economy.
The Philippines adopted its new constitution in 1987, limiting the presidency to a single six-year term, following the ouster a year earlier of Marcos’ late dictator father and namesake who ruled the country for 20 years.
“What we’re 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,” Marcos told reporters.
