CBCP to gov’t: Give Charter change more thought

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma. Photo from https://www.cbcponline.net/

MANILA, Philippines—The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines on Friday said that while many provisions in the Constitution needed amendment, the government must still be extra cautious in pushing through with Charter change.

In an interview through CBCPNews, the official news service of the Church body, CBCP president Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said the stand of the bishops on the matter was for the government to spend more time studying the move to amend some laws in the Constitution.

“Even before, we have recognized that there are provisions that should be amended but yet it’s not just a matter of [easily] changing them because we already have good laws. It’s just a question of implementing the laws that we have,” said Palma.

The senior prelate was reacting to a resolution filed by House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte early this week seeking to amend “restrictive” economic provisions of the Constitution.

The resolution would pave the way for the passage of new laws that would allow foreign investors to develop the country’s natural resources, own lands or mass media companies and get franchises to operate public utilities.

“Without denying there are also provisions in the Constitution that need to be changed and yet as we always say, we should be extra cautious and I think we need more time to study it,” said Palma.

He also pointed out that amending the Constitution would surely entail expenses on the part of the government which was something that can be spent on more worthwhile causes.

“The other dimension to this is also the money involved because there might be other important things that the government should spend on rather than for the purposes of Charter change,” Palma added.

While some lawmakers supported Belmonte’s resolution, the Aquino administration has maintained that Charter change was not a priority of President Benigno Aquino and that the economic gains experienced by the country over the past few years were achieved without any constitutional amendments.