MANILA - Making the Foreign Investment Negative List "less negative" through legislation should bode well for lawmakers in an election year if the reforms benefit voters, the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines said Friday.

The chamber is pushing for the of easing foreign ownership caps public services including transport, telecommunications and the internet, which "can have the most impact on the economy," said AmCham senior adviser John Forbes said.

"I’d like to think that the Congress wants to pass reform measures in order to improve services for the Philippine voters that consumers ...will get better services, will get cheaper services, better technology if we have more competition," Forbes said.

President Rodrigo Duterte in October updated the list of industries that are open to foreign investments and those that are limited to Filipino nationals.

AmCham "welcomes" the 11th edition of the list but more reforms can be made that can lead to "billions of dollars" in foreign investments, he said.