Time might be ripe for Cha-cha, says Angara

MANILA, Philippines— Senator Sonny Angara believes it is time to revisit some of the provisions of the “vintage” 1987 Constitution.

This time, though, Angara called for “honest to goodness” discussions of Charter change (Cha-cha), noting how people viewed previous proposals as “very self-promoting or self-interested.”

“The time might be ripe to revisit some of the provisions of the Constitution because it’s a 1987 vintage so that’s almost 40 years, and the world has changed a lot from 1986 or ’87,” Angara said over ABS-CBN News Channel on Monday.

In particular, the chairman of the Senate finance committee sees the need to review the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution.

“I think that’s something worth reviewing because we need some flexibility in that area also,” Angara said.

The senator noted how some industries remain restricted in the Philippines when Filipinos are allowed to practice it in other countries.

While Filipinos are allowed to teach in other countries, for instance, the Philippines’ institutions or the practice of profession are still limited to Filipinos, he pointed out.

Angara, nevertheless, expressed reservations over allowing foreigners to own land in the Philippines.

“If foreign monies come in, it will drive prices up. I don’t want that dream of a Filipino to own his or her land to be affected by that,” he said.

He recognized that past Cha-cha initiatives failed to succeed as they were viewed as “very self-promoting or self-interested.”

“So what we want are honest-to-goodness Charter change discussions on the merits and the benefits to the country and our people should be clear and not the benefits to incumbents,” Angara said.

Officials of the House of Representatives led by Speaker Martin Romualdez earlier talked about reviving the Charter change initiative in 2024, focusing in particular on the economic provisions.