The Philippines has chosen to pursue liberalization by taking an active part in the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the World Trade Organization (WTO). The intent is to open up the economy by liberalizing trade and investment policies in order to attract new job-generating enterprises, to foster competition among the different industries and to gain access to global markets for the country’s goods and services. To fully realize the gains from the liberalization of trade in services, however, certain challenges, such as the resistance of different groups to the idea and the complex legal barriers in certain service sub-sectors, must be overcome. While this paper will concentrate only on business services, the scope of the study is still formidable given the number of sub-sectors under the business services classification. Business services, according to the GATS Services Sectoral Classification List, includes the following: professional services, computer and related services, research and development services, real estate services, rental/leasing services without operators, and other business services.
