House body OKs bill extending land lease limit to 99 years

A HOUSE of Representatives committee on Tuesday approved a bill that seeks to extend foreign investors’ land lease limits to 99 years from 75 years as part of government efforts to attract foreign investments.

House Bill No. 10755, filed by several congressmen led by Speaker and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, wants to reduce investment risk and uncertainties facing foreign investors by stretching land lease limits.

“It’s high time to amend this law,” Bureau of Investments Governor Marjorie O. Ramos-Samaniego told congressmen at a House Trade and Industry Committee hearing, referring to the 31-year-old Investors’ Lease Act.

The measure is a legislative priority of President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s government.

The committee introduced changes to the measure, including the removal of a requirement for foreign investors to have a registered investment certified by an investment promotion agency under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act to rent land.

Export processing zones and free port authorities are empowered to be a registration agency for foreign investors, Leyte Rep. Anna Victoria Veloso-Tuazon said.

Criminal liabilities for corporate officers of foreign companies with a land lease contract were also removed under the amended version of the bill. The House body also made optional a provision that originally required lease contracts to be registered with the Registry of Deeds.

Allowing foreign investors to lease Philippine land for as long as 99 years could improve the country’s prospect as an investment destination, matching its regional neighbors, National Economic and Development Authority Assistant Director Bien A. Ganapin told the committee hearing.

“By providing long lease periods, the Philippines will effectively be on par with regional peers that offer comparable investment incentives,” he said.

“Extending the lease of private lands will further liberalize foreign property rights ownership, [which] may encourage more foreign investors in addition to current incentives already provided by existing economic liberalization laws,” he added, referring to the Public Services and Foreign Investment laws.

Extending the land lease limits could enhance the country’s investment climate, Ms. Samaniego said, adding that it would make the iron, steel and shipbuilding sectors and other industries more attractive to foreign investors since they will have more time to recover initial investments.

It would also provide foreign investors “the confidence to undertake long-term projects,” helping them make strategic business decisions with a sense of security, Nueva Ecija Rep. Rosanna V. Vergara said.

The committee also approved a bill institutionalizing Mr. Marcos’s executive order (EO) creating green lanes for strategic investments.

Filed by Bukidnon Rep. Jose Manuel F. Alba, House Bill 8039 seeks to codify into law EO No. 18, which the President issued last year.

“His executive order was issued to promote the Philippines as a top investment destination, and to encourage investors to engage in strategic investments by ensuring that the country’s regulatory environment is conducive to business operations,” according to the bill’s explanatory note. 

“It’s our aim to have this institutionalized because we see that it is a very effective mechanism in facilitating the permits and licenses… for strategic investments,” he added. — Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio