The 13th Foreign Investment Negative List, Explained
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.
What it is
Executive Order No. 113 ("Promulgating the Thirteenth Regular Foreign Investment Negative List") was signed on 13 April 2026 by Ralph G. Recto, Acting Executive Secretary, on the President's behalf. It replaces the 12th Negative List and sets out which sectors of the Philippine economy are closed or capped for foreign equity, under the 1987 Constitution and the Foreign Investments Act (RA 7042, as amended by RA 8179 and RA 11647).
Effectivity date is genuinely unsettled. EO 113's own text says only that it takes effect "fifteen (15) days after its publication," without naming a calendar date. Depending on which publication date is used (13, 15, 16 or 17 April 2026), the effective date lands on 1 or 2 May 2026. We use 2 May 2026 as the working date but flag this as an open question rather than a settled fact.
List A — restrictions set by the Constitution or specific statutes (25 items)
List A can be amended at any time to track changes in underlying laws. Key tiers:
| Foreign equity cap | Examples |
|---|---|
| 0% | Mass media (except recording); private security agencies (RA 11917); small-scale mining; cockpits; mass-produced fireworks retail |
| 25% | Private recruitment agencies, domestic and overseas (this directly affects manning/OFW-recruitment businesses) |
| 30% | Advertising |
| 40% | Retail with paid-up capital under ₱25 million (₱25 million or more allows 100%, under RA 11595); natural resource exploration (renewable energy — solar, wind, hydro, ocean/tidal — is a carved-out exception allowing 100%, per DOJ Opinion No. 21 s. 2022 and DOE Circular DC2022-11-0034); private land ownership; public utilities |
| 100% | Telecommunications operation and management (100% if the foreign investor's home country grants reciprocity to Filipinos; otherwise capped at 50%, under RA 11659 §25) |
The public-utility definition matters more than it looks
RA 11659 narrowed "public utility" to exactly six activities: (1) electricity distribution, (2) electricity transmission, (3) petroleum/petroleum-product pipeline transport, (4) water/sewerage pipeline distribution, (5) seaports, and (6) public utility vehicles. Airports, railways, telecommunications, and power generation are no longer classified as public utilities and therefore fall outside the 40% cap — a major liberalization from the pre-2022 regime. Foreign board participation is still capped at the equity share, and all executive and managing officers must be Filipino citizens (Constitution, Art. XII §11).
List B — national security, defense, health, morals, and SME protection (7 items)
Unlike List A, List B cannot be amended more than once every two years (RA 7042 §8).
Why this matters for Japanese investors
The reciprocity condition for telecoms (100% only if your home country reciprocates) and the renewable-energy carve-out inside an otherwise-restricted "natural resources" category are the two places where investors most often get the rule wrong. Confirm current status with legal counsel before structuring an entity — the effectivity-date ambiguity above is not resolved even at the primary-source level.
Primary sources: Executive Order No. 113, s. 2026 (Official Gazette); Republic Act No. 7042 (Foreign Investments Act, as amended by RA 8179 and RA 11647); Republic Act No. 11659 (Public Service Act amendment) and its IRR; Republic Act No. 11595 (retail trade liberalization); DOJ Opinion No. 21, s. 2022; DOE Circular DC2022-11-0034.
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