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The Global Nationality Ryan Robert Gutierrez-Flores

The Global Nationality

An essay on Professor Horatio Muir-Watts Reshaping Private International Law in a Changing World

There is a dire need for the establishment of standards, uniform to all states who wish to establish trade with each other. Conflict of Laws, as confusing as it may seem for the law student similarly offer little clarity to those whose industry, status or life depends on it because of the lack of a hard set of rules governing the exercise of municipal laws in questions involving the foreign element of an individual transaction or controversy. The re-orientation of how we perceive the problem of Conflicts of Law into how states, as vendors, offer different legal products to suit the needs of people who move back and forth through of the porous borders in a globalized world is necessary to keep up with the rapid modernization of the same. This is most evident in how multi-national corporations factor in legal risk analysis in the establishment of off-shore business units, sometimes relocating whole departments and SBUs to foreign countries which are governed by the laws that deliberately or accidentally favor the stateless, faceless corporation, at the expense of the local population. Professor Horatia Muir-Watt in her essay Reshaping Private International Law in a Changing World argues that there is a need for a central regulator to govern the relationships of these states in their dealings with each other. The author likewise cites as an example the environmental impact of a corporation, legally operating under lower standards of care in one state which spills over into another with a higher degree of concern for the environment should be held liable and must be subjected to the laws of the country with the stricter policy against the destructive activity. In the Philippine context, this is more than apparent. Until recently, India was the leading nation in the world of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), the Philippines has since overtaken India on the basis of new business generated, which actually means more American, European and Australasian corporations opted to bring their business to the Philippines than to India. As a result of which, rapid development of corporate infrastructure has been responsible for the development of not only the capital city, but almost all major cities in the Philippines. This in itself, in terms of the nations macroeconomics, paints a rosy picture. However, in terms of actual, individual gain, a Filipino employee, working the same number of hours, under the same rules and restrictions imposed on their American counterparts are making 90% less money than had they been working on American soil, because of the imposition of local labor laws which set the minimum wage and benefits accorded to workers instead of the legal rate in the home country of the corporation. Raising the salaries of BPO employees to meet those of the home state of the corporation may serve to defeat the very purpose of the whole exercise, where corporations may then just establish their offices in their own jurisdictions since they will pay just as much for the same

The Global Nationality Ryan Robert Gutierrez-Flores

service if their labor standards are used as the basis for compensation. It makes little business sense to go halfway around the world to spend the same amount of money, no matter how it makes perfect legal sense to do so. It is at this point that we have to make a distinction between locally registered corporations which offer BPO services, the multinational BPO corporation, and the foreign corporation who establishes a satellite office. The first category must be subject to local laws and labor standards as a corporation with a Filipino identity and nationality, while the latter two should be considered, as far as the law is concerned, as foreign corporations. In the case of the third category, the company merely builds an edifice, and performs tasks or participates in a market that is totally foreign; it is a tightly sealed box where all we provide is space. The second category is where it gets tricky: the employees of the second category, for all intents and purposes, are employees of the foreign corporation in all but location at any given time. They serve and affect the international market, not just the home country and the host country, rendering services in behalf of the foreign corporations they represent. Which law protects them? Professor Muir-Watt likewise raises a point regarding the individuals rights of selfdetermination. When a resident of a state possesses the status of a dual-citizen, which law between the two should govern? Should the person be allowed to choose which one? My opinion on the matter is that the law of the place of primary domicile should apply. But this poses a problem, especially to our fellow countrymen who pledged allegiance to the flag of whatever greener pasture they find themselves in, while waving a Philippine flag behind their backs. Citizenship laws should be regulated on a global scale to give some semblance of stability to an increasingly mobile world, instead of deciding on controversies arising from citizenship involving a foreign element on a municipal level. The point is conceded that the world is changing in more ways than one, faster than anyone has imagined it. With advancements in technology, making the world smaller and smaller as each year rolls around; states find themselves in the pull of global forces, pressing everyone to start reconsidering the old perceptions of a simpler time, and to come up with new and novel solutions to answer for the need of greater standardization and regulation in the face of new threats to its security. A balance must be struck between global capital, our requirement of it, and the integrity of the law with respect to its relationship with other legal systems and governments. A standard method or a global norm is necessary to maintain peace between the states and to harmonize their laws, without which, we face the future with uncertainty to the great detriment of all.

Ryan Robert Gutierrez-Flores July 5, 2011 Pasig City, Republic of the Philippines