Sotto: Economic Cha-cha face dead end if no Senate decision by early 2022

MANILA, Philippines — The proposed economic Charter change (Cha-cha) may face a dead end if the Senate will not be able to decide on the matter by January or February 2022, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Wednesday.

Sotto said they should “play it by ear” when it comes to the Senate’s next move on economic Cha-cha. To recall, the House of Representatives approved Resolution of Both Houses No. 2, which proposes amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution, in early June.

The Senate President said the resolution has been transmitted to the Senate.

“The agreement of Speaker and I is that at the very latest, kailangan January or February of 2022 pinasa namin yan so that it can be included in a plebiscite in the 2022 elections,” Sotto said in an interview with INQside Look.

Asked if this means the measure is “good as assuming as dead” if the Senate would not be able to pass it by January or February of next year, Sotto: “Oh yes, pag hindi namin napasa ng January or February ‘yun, mahihirapan na. We will let the next administration or next Congress handle it.”

Sotto believes that the majority of the members of the Senate will be supportive of the proposed amendments as long as they are confined to one or two economic provisions of the Constitution.

“But a charter change, as they call it cha-cha, I personally am not in favor of a charter change. It will entail very very tedious, not only time and effort but pati gastos,” Sotto said.

“What we need is not a cha-cha: charter change, what we need is cha-cha: character change. That’s what we need,” he added.

Further, Sotto pointed out that other pending measures such as the Foreign Investments Act, the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, and the Public Service Act “somehow would be able to address some economic concerns.”

/MUF