Voting 175 against three, with two abstentions, the House of Representatives approved House Bill (HB) No. 10755 on third and final reading Dec. 17, which seeks to offer foreign investors a lease on private lands for 99 years, almost doubling the present term of 50 years.
Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, principal author of HB 10755, said the proposed 99-year lease addresses the concern of foreign capitalists regarding the shorter rental period under the present law, which is 50 years renewable for an additional 25 years.
“We hope they would be satisfied with the proposal. We hope it would attract new foreign investments and encourage existing investors to expand their businesses, thereby creating more job and income opportunities for our people and sustaining our economic growth,” Romualdez said in a press release from his office.
He said the proposal also aligns with the open-door policy of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for legitimate foreign capital and the existing practices in many countries.
“We want to be competitive regionally and globally in terms of enticing foreign investments,” added the leader of the 300-plus-strong House.
HB 10755 declares that the state adopts a flexible and dynamic policy on the granting of long-term lease on private lands to foreign investors for the establishment of industrial estates, factories, assembly or processing plants, agro-industrial enterprises, land development for industrial or commercial use, tourism, agriculture, agroforestry, ecological conservation, and other similarly productive endeavors.
“Private lands” shall mean “those lands which have been segregated from the general mass of the public domain, and distributed by any form of gratuitous or onerous grant by the state, such as a deed of sale, adjustment title, special grant, or possessory information title converted into a record of ownership.”
The proposed law provides that any foreign investor investing in the Philippines shall be allowed to lease private lands “solely for the purpose of the investment upon the mutual agreement of the parties, and that the leased premises shall comprise such area as may reasonably be required for the purpose of the investment, subject to the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law and the Local Government Code”, among others. ||
