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1 The Global Nationality Ryan Robert Gutierrez-Flores

The Global NationalityAn 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

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2 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 self-

determination. 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