Pimentel warns: Inserting foreign land ownership in Cha-cha proposal to fuel opposition

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III (Voltaire F. Domingo/Senate PRIB)

MANILA, Philippines — Inserting a provision that allows foreigners to own Philippine land will boost the piling up of opposition to the proposal to amend or revise the 1987 Constitution, said Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III.

Pimentel, a lawyer, pointed out on Monday that while the push to reform the 36-year-old Charter is packaged as a means of easing its economic restrictions, there is a “rider provision” that will alarmingly greenlight foreign ownership of land in the country – a right that the constitution reserves for Filipino citizens only.

“Why is it there? Bakit nasisingit iyang [foreign] land ownership na iyan (Why is foreign land ownership being inserted in), which can add to the controversy and to the resistance and opposition?” he said in an interview with ABS-CBN News’ Headstart.

Pimentel then went on: “Ngayon pa lang nga, meron nang resistance against opening or relaxing the so-called economic provisions and then, you introduce a rider [provision] there about land ownership? I think this will now result in more opposition to the call for Charter change right now.”

(Even right now, there’s already resistance to opening or relaxing the so-called economic provisions and then, you introduce a rider provision there about land ownership? I think this will now result in more opposition to the call for Charter change right now.)

Asked to further clarify where he saw the proposed amendments to the constitutional restrictions on land ownership, Pimentel told INQUIRER.net in a text message that he saw it in a Senate resolution pitching changes to the “economic provisions” of the Charter.

“Don’t have a copy now. I just relied on memory,” he added.

While the proposed constitutional reform has yet to reach the Senate floor, it quickly received an overwhelming boost from the lower chamber.

The House of Representatives has passed a bill to implement the Resolution of Both Houses No. 6, which calls for a “hybrid” constitutional convention (con-con) to propose changes to the 1987 Constitution.

But there is no provision in the resolution that explicitly limits the reforms to the Charter’s economic provisions.

House committee on constitutional amendments chair and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriquez had even said there was a “big possibility” that the proposed Charter change will also touch political provisions, including those about term limits of elected officials.

READ: Rodriguez: Cha-cha may touch political provisions, too

At the Senate, more work needs to be done to earn support for the bid for constitutional reform since the number of legislators who oppose Charter change seemingly outnumber those who are in favor.

Pimentel, meanwhile, admitted that foreign ownership of media entities and educational institutions are “old ways of thinking” in the constitution.

“That’s why we have to keep on debating this but ang tanong is (but the question is) – do we open up the constitution for those two reasons right now?” he said.

JMS