MANILA, Philippines — The Young Lawyers in Support of Anti-Trust Law (YLSAT) expressed support on the Supreme Court’s ruling on foreign ownership which defines capital as being both voting and non-voting shares.

YLSAT believes the negative impact of the Supreme Court ruling on Philippine Long Distance and Telephone Company’s alleged violation of the Philippine Constitution’s limitation on foreign ownership is over blown.

“We have talked to some businessmen and most of them have factored in the mandate of the Constitution’s cap on foreign ownership,” said Atty. Francis Aguilar, one of the YLSAT group members.

He noted that ‘what they are complaining about are not the fundamental laws but the changing rules and regulations.’

The fundamental laws of the land that (1) safeguard the operation of public utilities and protect national security and in another aspect, (2) promote public interest by banning monopolies constitute state policy that is universally adhered to in most countries, said Aguilar.

In the Philippines, the former falls under Section 11, Article XII of the Constitution and the latter, under Section 19, Article XII.

“If a foreign-owned company attempts to gain monopoly/control or a strategic public utility is unchecked, national security is at stake,” Aguilar pointed out.

He pointed out that ‘if you look at placing, for instance, 21,319 circuit kilometers of transmission lines nationwide with broadband capacity under foreign control, it’s like transferring control of the national switchboard to alien hands.

“ YLSAT noted that, in the case of Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), the telecommunications industry is but one out of the many industries having received or continue to receive FDIs.

Industry category Transport, Storage and Communication, though one out of the top six from 1999 to 2009, registered Philippine net FDI at only $7.3 million in 2009 compared to industry category Manufacturing which reached $887.8 million.

Next are the Electricity, Gas and Water sectors with net FDI of $389.6 million and the Financial Intermediation and Real Estate sectors at $312 million and $8.9 million, respectively.

YLSAT is a group of young lawyers calling on regulators and legislators to protect consumers from entities that aim to dominate and control markets.

The group is pushing for the enactment of Anti-Trust bills languishing in both the Senate and House of Representatives since 2007 and 1998, respectively.