The prevailing Corporation Code of the Philippines permits foreign investors to set up joint ventures, branches and representative offices. The law stipulates that Filipino shareholders should not be fewer than five in a joint venture, most of whom should be permanent residents of the Philippines. The secretary of a joint venture should be a Philippine citizen. The Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission also requires that the financial personnel of joint ventures should be permanent residents of the Philippines. According to the Code, prior to the operation of branches in the Philippines, the mother company of the foreign party should have registered with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission. It is also required by Corporation Code that the branch should at least deposit negotiable securities with a real market value of 100,000 pesos at the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission. Within six months after each fiscal year, the branch should deposit negotiable securities with a market value of 2 percent of its total revenues (no less than five million pesos) at the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, representative offices should register with the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission and remit US$30,000 to the Philippines. The above-mentioned regulations on the establishment of joint ventures, branches and representative offices required of foreign investors by the Philippines have raised the threshold of foreign investment, constituting substantial barriers to foreign investment.
