Charter change to tackle economic issues only–Belmonte

The leadership of the House of Representatives has assured the public that fresh moves to amend the Constitution are meant to introduce new economic, not political, provisions to make the country a more attractive investment destination.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte said he and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile had exchanged notes on Charter change (Cha-cha) and consulted with House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales who agreed it was “feasible.”

“Now that the shadow of anybody’s desire to stay in power and change the ground rules doesn’t exist at all in this kind of atmosphere, the notion that it will be divisive seems to have been minimized,” Belmonte said in an interview the other day.

He said that consultations on this kind of endeavor would be simple and that the measure, once filed, would be treated as an ordinary, not a priority, bill, meaning that each chamber of Congress will tackle it and vote on their own.

“It’s worth exploring as Senate President Enrile and I said. We’ll get together again during the holidays and try to see if it’s an idea that will go forward,” he said.

Among the constitutional provisions to be tackled include the ratio of foreign ownership in a company and additional investment incentives, he said.

Belmonte stressed the need to get the Philippines “in concert” with global developments and business trends.

For his part, Gonzales said the leadership had decided to leave out the political aspects such as changing the form of government and the term limits of elected officials so that the proposal could easily take off.

“Because the moment you include the political (aspect), it will not take off. It’s the political provision or an attempt to change the political framework, whether change of government or term of office, that will put a stop to everything. So it’s really economic,” Gonzales told reporters.

He said the matter could be taken up jointly by the House and the Senate but at the end of the day, they will be voting separately.

Gonzales cited some economic provisions that need to be reviewed such as land ownership by foreign individuals, ratio of foreign ownership in a corporate structure, and exploration of natural resources.

He stressed though that stakeholders would first be consulted to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings on the issue.

“If the stakeholders say that we cannot handle the exploration of our natural resources, then fine, we will not touch it,” Gonzales said.