WPS tension could drive investments away — Libanan

The escalating geopolitical tension between the Philippines and China over the hotly contested West Philippine Sea (WPS) undermines the country’s efforts to lure foreign investments, a leader of the House of Representatives warned on Sunday.

Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan said the dispute is putting the Philippines in a bad light on the international stage, potentially turning off foreign investors, who “might misperceive and misunderstand the tensions as a looming security risk.”

Libanan said the entanglements between Chinese and Philippine vessels in the WPS, as well as the exchange of words between Beijing and Manila, could put to naught President Ferdinand Marcos’ 25 foreign trips to attract foreign direct investments into the Philippines.

Likewise, he said efforts by Congress to relax the purportedly restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution could also amount to nothing due to the spat between the two countries.

He prodded the Marcos administration to assure investors that the Philippines remains “highly conducive to profitable business activities” despite its maritime dispute with China.

“We must stress that despite the tensions, the Philippines offers a stable, peaceful, and safe haven for the gainful production of goods and services by foreign investors,” Libanan said.

China has territorial claims in nearly the entire South China Sea, which overlaps the WPS, notwithstanding a 2016 arbitral ruling that deemed its sovereignty assertion baseless.