The National Economic Development Authority has issued the implementing rules and regulations of the amended Public Service Act or Republic Act No. 11659, which took effect on 4 April 2023.
The president of the Philippines has signed into law Republic Act No. 11659 (“RA 11659”), which: (a) removes foreign equity restrictions on most public service companies, except those considered as ‘public utility’ and ‘critical infrastructure’; (b) limits the scope of ‘public utility’ to public service companies involved in distribution and transmission of electricity, petroleum and petroleum products pipeline transmission systems, water pipeline distribution systems, wastewater and sewerage pipeline systems, seaports, and public utility vehicles (PUVs); and (c) limits the scope of ‘critical infrastructure’ to public service companies that own, use or operate systems and assets that are “vital to the Republic of the Philippines that the incapacity or destruction of such systems or assets would have a detrimental impact on national security, including telecommunications and other such vital services as may be declared by the President of the Philippines”.
On 3 February 2022, the Congress’ Bicameral Conference Committee approved a final version of the Bill that seeks to amend the Public Service Act with a view to limiting the foreign equity restrictions imposed by the Philippine Constitution on ‘public utilities.’
Cross-border lending in Asia Pacific continues to grow steadily despite external factors such as COVID-19. While the region is not immune to external factors, borrowing volumes for financial institutions, credit funds and other market participants remain high in Asia Pacific. Considering the demographics of many of the nations, the various financial centers and many market participants investing more substantially in some of those financial centers, we remain optimistic that lending activity across Asia Pacific will continue to grow.
Recent developments The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has recently issued SEC Memorandum Circular No. 9 Series of 2020 (SEC MC No. 9) to provide guidelines for the filing of General Information Sheet (GIS) during the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) period imposed due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)…
Recent developments The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in a Notice dated 18 March 2020, made the following amendments to SEC Memorandum Circular No. 5 Series of 2020 (SEC MC No. 5), which extended the period for submission of Annual Reports and Annual Financial Statements (AFS) of Philippine companies:…
Recent developments The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued SEC Memorandum Circular No. 5 Series of 2020 (SEC MC No. 5), which extends the period for submission of Annual Reports (on SEC Form 17-A, which is applicable to publicly-listed companies) and Annual Financial Statements (AFS) of Philippine companies.…
Recent Developments The Supreme Court has recently issued A.M. No. 19-08-06-SC or the “Rule on Administrative Search and Inspection under the Philippine Competition Act” (Rules). The Rules govern the procedure to apply for, the issuance, and enforcement of, inspection orders for administrative investigations of alleged violations of the Philippine Competition…
Recent developments On 18 June 2019, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) published its Rules on Expedited Merger Review (Expedited Review Rules) which aims to fast-track the review of transactions deemed less likely to result in substantial lessening of competition in the Philippine markets. Under the new rules, the PCC’s review…
On 15 February 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) released the Memorandum Circular No. 4, Series of 2019 on the Sustainability Reporting Guidelines for Publicly-Listed Companies (PLCs). The Memorandum Circular took effect on 8 March 2019 and will apply to the 2019 Annual Reports that are to be submitted…