PH will be laggard of Asia if Cha-cha is not done, says lawmaker

Aklan 2nd District Representative Teodorico Haresco Jr. (PHOTO FROM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES/WEBSITE)

MANILA, Philippines — Another member of House of Representatives is batting for amending the so-called “restrictive” economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution.

Aklan 2nd District Representative Teodorico Haresco Jr. believes changing the Charter will help Philippines catch up to its neighbors in Southeast Asia.

Haresco said the Constitution is the reason why the country’s growth stagnated for 37 years.

He added other Southeast Asian nations have adjusted their primary law of the land to “reflect the evolving global landscape.”

“They in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, members of ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] – they have changed their constitutions so many times,” the lawmaker said.

“Thailand has had 20 constitutions; Indonesia, 9 times; Malaysia, so many times,” he pointed out in a statement.

He likewise said previous legislators did not revise the Constitution because of an “unfounded” fear that it will disrupt the social harmony.

“We base our assumption that if we open up the discussion on the Constitution, we’d break up our society. That is completely untrue,” Haresco noted.

The lawmaker said Filipinos’ insistence on keeping its Charter unchanged makes it the “land of the few.”

“We don’t have enough capital. We don’t have enough technology. We don’t have enough foreign entrepreneurship to participate actively in this global world,” he lamented.

“If we don’t open ourselves to this debate about opening up the Constitution, we will be not only the laggard of ASEAN, but of Asia,” the lawmaker warned.