Recto to Senate: Let’s talk ‘Cha-cha’

MANILA, Philippines—Amid a pronouncement that Charter change would be tackled in the Senate only after the House passed its own Cha-cha resolution, a party mate of President Aquino’s called on his colleagues on Tuesday to begin discussions on amending the Constitution, particularly the provisions that restrict foreign ownership of businesses in the country.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto back on Feb. 18 filed a Resolution of Both Houses No. 1, “Proposing amendments to certain restrictive economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution… specifically to Articles 12, 14 and 16 thereof.”

Timely

“I think it is appropriate, it is timely now. The House is talking about it. The Senate should talk about it also. What are the pros and cons of liberalizing our investment climate?” Recto said.

“More particularly, we have all these free trade agreements. If you have free trade agreements you must allow foreign investments or else you miss out on the free trade agreements,” he told the Inquirer.

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Recto denied that Cha-cha was a Liberal Party initiative as claimed by Bayan Muna Rep. Isagani Zarate who pointed out that Speaker Feliciano Belmonte in the House and Recto in the Senate, both members of the ruling party, were pushing for the measure in their respective chambers.

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“We have had no discussions in the Liberal Party with regard to a position on this matter. I think the position of the President is clear as well. He apparently is not interested in amending the Constitution,” Recto said.

Let’s debate

“I think we should have that debate. It doesn’t necessarily mean we will pass this in this Congress but let us continue to have that debate and let us have it formally in the Senate in a committee deliberation. There’s nothing wrong with that,” he added.

Both Recto’s and Belmonte’s resolutions propose adding the clause “unless otherwise provided by  law” to the foreign ownership provisions under the constitutional articles on the national economy and patrimony; education, science, technology, arts, culture and sports; and general provisions.

Recto said his version was different from Belmonte’s.

“So it’s not automatic.  My appreciation of the House version is that once it is passed, automatically all laws restricting investments lapse, are repealed. So there’s nothing to debate,” Recto said.

“[My version] allows Congress to debate each and every issue so none of the laws are repealed unless amended or repealed later by Congress. The [new] laws [on foreign interests] have to be passed,” he stressed.

Told that Senate President Franklin Drilon had said the Senate would tackle Cha-cha only after the House passed its measure, Recto said: “That’s one, and… if it’s referred to a committee, the committee can tackle the measure as well.”

“Nothing prevents us from doing that. That’s how the committees work in the Senate,” said Recto, adding that he respected Drilon’s position.

Drilon said Recto was acting on his own when he filed his Cha-cha resolution.

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