THE European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) admitted that the talks in amending the charter has brought "uncertainty" to some of their members.

ECCP Executive Director Florian Gottein made the statement when pressed by Senator Grace Poe on the reaction of their members over the moves on Charter amendments.

It was done at the second hearing of the Senate subcommittee on constitutional amendments and revisions of codes hearing on Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH6).

"I have to be honest. We got some calls from some of our members following the news and the political debate about how this might unfold or in which direction it could actually move further. So there is some uncertainty out there, yes," Gottein said.

For his part, Julian Payne, president of Canadian Chamber of Commerce who represented the Joint Foreign Chamber (JFC) also said that they are supportive the easing on foreign direct investments (FDI) "wherever this is possible."

"I’ll make a caveat at the moment. We are of the opinion that the removal of economic restrictions would facilitate increased foreign direct investments in sectors where such investment is currently restricted. We recognize that the government's mandate and indeed duty to all countries is to protect natural interests to some restrictions on [Free Trade Agreement]. That happens in every country," Payne said.

"In most national economies, this interest is protected by use of legislation or executive action, not in constitution. The advantage of using legislation or executive action is that with these forms of regulation, both the legislature and/or the executive can quickly adjust to changing business conditions in the international environment," he added.