Last month, the Department of Tourism reported that 4,681,307 international visitors arrived in the Philippines in 2013. Although falling slightly short of its goal of 5M visitors, this statistic surely gives the impression that the slogan “More Fun in the Philippines” has been relatively successful in attracting tourists to come and join the fun bandwagon in the Philippines, inspite of the calamities that also visited the country.
However, while we welcome foreigners to visit, spend and even consider staying in our country for good, some of our laws are not quite as inviting.
One of the more controversial and unrelenting policies is the prohibition against aliens from owning land in the Philippines. Under our Constitution, only citizens may own land. And except in the case of hereditary succession from a Filipino citizen, this rule is as absolute as it can get and foreigners are even presumed to know it.