The Philippines is keen on regaining its education-hub status—now held by Malaysia—in the region through the liberalization of the education sector in the upcoming amendments to the Regular Foreign Investment Negative List (RFINL), according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).
Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the “aggressive” draft RFINL has been forwarded by the Neda to the Office of the President, which is currently reviewing the proposal.
“That is the objective. We should recover that position [education hub],” Pernia said. “[The RFINL is] still being looked into by the Office of the President.”
In another forum this week, Hal Hill, professor emeritus of Southeast Asian Economies in the Arndt Corden Department of Economics, Crawford School of the Australian National University, said reforming the education sector in the country is crucial.
Hill added the country’s educational advantage is shrinking and other countries are catching up.
He said the Philippines initially had a “historical head start” in education, mainly due to the widespread use of the English language in the country.
“The Philippines initially was expected to become the regional hub for higher education, that is the internationalization of higher education, and the Philippines has played a role in that. But it probably would have taken a much larger role if it had been more open in a sense,” Hill added.
“Ironically, Malaysia, which doesn’t have such a strong education base than the Philippines, has become the hub because they opened up more quickly. That’s another challenge, I think the Philippines will still be able to play that game if it will move quicker,” he said.
Data showed educational-attainment rates of people aged 25 to 54 years old in the Philippines was at 98.3 percent for primary; 75.9 percent for secondary; and 29.3 percent for tertiary education.
Compared to other countries in the Asia Pacific, the Philippines only ranks third in terms of educational attainment in primary school; fifth in secondary; and second in tertiary education.
The top country in primary education is Lao PDR at 100 percent. In secondary and tertiary education, South Korea is the leader at 98.5 percent and 43.9 percent, respectively.
“The education story is one of an advantage. Of course that’s the key reason it’s been so successful. But the Philippines’s education advantage has been shrinking,” Hill said.
Earlier, Pernia said apart from the plan to allow increased foreign equity in telecommunication and the proposal to remove public utilities from the RFINL, it seeks to allow more foreign professors to teach in the country.
Pernia said foreign professors are not allowed to teach in private and public universities.
This becomes a problem especially in the case of Filipino-American professors. He said these professor’s credentials make them qualified to teach in the Philippines. But because of the restriction, they cannot teach and must renounce their American citizenship before they do.
“We have so many scientists in the US who have done groundbreaking scientific research and have patents. But, they have dual citizenship and they cannot be given an item in the university because of this. They have to renounce their American citizenship to get an item,” Pernia said.
The Neda is tasked to review and revise the country’s RFINL, which contains restrictions on foreign investments and the practice of professions based on the Constitution and Philippine laws.
The RFINL contains investment areas/activities where foreign equity participation is limited by mandate of the Constitution and specific laws. It also consists of investment areas/activities where foreign equity participation is limited for reasons of defense, security, risk to public health and morals and protection of small- and medium-sized domestic market enterprises.