Foreign Investment Negative List (13th RFINL) — Complete List

As of 2026-09-08 · Updated 2026-09-08 · Section: Investment, Economic Zones & Licensing · 日本語版

Editor's note: This article covers a field in which the site's operating company has business interests. It is compiled from publicly available and primary sources.

Source: the original PDF of Executive Order No. 113 as published in the Official Gazette (20260413-EO-113-FRM.pdf, 7 pages total), obtained directly, and restored in full via OCR using the OCR framework (2026-08-26). List A is on pp. 3–5 of the original; List B is on pp. 6–7.

注 This document collection had long recorded that "the schedules themselves are not contained in the Official Gazette or the E-Library, and cannot be obtained because they are treated as a separate attachment" — this was mistaken. They are simply pages 3 onward of the very same PDF. The error arose because only the first two pages had ever been examined.

注 Because the text was reconstructed via OCR, proper nouns and figures should ideally be cross-checked against the original. Any point where the OCR reading itself is in doubt is flagged with 注 in the body text below.

1. Overview of Executive Order No. 113

Effective date — a single date cannot be stated with certainty

The original text of Section 5 reads as follows.

"This Order shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in any newspaper of general circulation."

  The text of the EO contains no fixed date. It states only "fifteen (15) days after its publication."

注 This document collection uses "effective 2026-05-02" (= 4/17 + 15 days) across 17 files. If 4/17 is in fact the correct publication date, then 5/2 is right — but if the actual posting date was 4/16, the effective date would instead be 5/1. Until this is confirmed, both should be treated as live possibilities.

Section 2 — List A and List B differ in how often they may be amended

2. List A — Foreign investment restrictions under the Constitution and individual laws (25 items total)

0% foreign equity (10 items)

Note carefully what "Internet businesses" means in item ①. DOJ Opinion No. 40 uses this term to mean the carrier that merely transmits messages — i.e., internet access/connectivity providers — not those who create the messages. Online media outlets that produce their own content may well fall outside this exclusion.

Up to 25% foreign equity (2 items)

Item 11 connects directly to Field 08 (OFWs). Foreign equity in overseas recruitment/placement businesses is capped at 25%.

Up to 30% foreign equity (1 item)

Up to 40% foreign equity (11 items: #14–24)

Item #17 — the definition of "public utility": RA 11659 narrowed it to six categories

  The following six activities are the ONLY things that count as a "public utility"
  (Commonwealth Act No. 146, Section 13, as amended by RA 11659, Section 4):

    ① Distribution of electricity        ② Transmission of electricity
    ③ Petroleum and petroleum-product pipeline transport
    ④ Water pipeline distribution and sewerage pipeline systems (including wastewater treatment)
    ⑤ Seaports                            ⑥ Public utility vehicles (PUVs)

  Anything not on this list is NOT a public utility, unless a separate law says otherwise.
  In other words, airports, railways, telecommunications, and power generation
  are no longer classified as "public utilities" and are no longer subject to the 40% cap.

A further constraint from Article XII, Section 11 of the Constitution still applies: a foreign investor's participation in the governing body is capped at its equity share, and all executive and managing officers must be Filipino citizens.

Up to 100% foreign equity (1 item)

3. List B — Restrictions for security, defense, health, morals, and protection of small and medium enterprises (7 items total)

Every item in this list is capped at 40% foreign equity.

Items #6 and #7 together are the real substance of "the minimum paid-in capital for a foreign investor running a domestic-market business." The default is US$200,000. It drops to US$100,000 if any one of the following is met: advanced technology, startup certification, or employing 15 or more Filipino staff. 注 The employment requirement has already been eased from "50 or more" to "15 or more" under RA 11647 (see this document collection's "Company Formation and Starting a Business — Practical Guide," §2).

4. Key points for Japanese readers

日本語の詳細版: 分野「投資制度・経済特区・許認可」「外資規制ネガティブリスト（第13次 RFINL）── 全項目」（本サイト日本語版）。