A screengrab from the House of Representatives public relations bureau posted February 20, 2014, shows members of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments shows lawmakers tacking proposed changes to the economic provisions of the Charter. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WEBSITE
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. on Monday revived the call for the passage of economic charter change as he opened the third regular session ahead of President Benigno Aquino III’s last State of the Nation Address (Sona).
In his opening speech, Belmonte urged Congress to pass his Resolution of Both Houses 1 that seeks to ease the foreign ownership restrictions in the Constitution.
In the amendment proposed by Belmonte, the phrase “unless otherwise provided for by law” would be added to the provisions requiring 60 percent ownership to Filipinos and only 40 percent to foreigners in investments.
The inclusion of the phrase means amending the Constitution would only require a simple legislation that needs to be approved by both chambers of Congress and subjected to a plebiscite.
The resolution was not passed before Congress went on sine die break in June because of a lack of supporters. The resolution needed the three-fourths vote (217) of the 290-strong chamber to pass.
“It is now in that same spirit that I urge you, our dear colleagues, to ensure that we finally pass Resolution of Both Houses 1. By amending the restrictive economic provisions of our Constitution., we empower Congress to enact laws that will attract the kind of investments that will reverse the de-industrialization and de-agriculturalization of our economy,” Belmonte said.
“Only then can we encourage locators and investors to expand our manufacturing sector, the area where the better paying decent jobs can be created. This is the best strategy to ensure that no Filipino be left behind,” he added.
Sought for clarification, Belmonte said he revived talks for economic charter change to drum up the discussions in time for the 2016 elections.
He said some candidates in the 2016 polls have the same view of easing the economic restrictions in the charter.
“It’s actually a message. its very tight to revive it, but because of all the talk about it many of the candidates are actually talking about changing the Constitution and so forth,” Belmonte said.
“Let me just make it very plain in my view, I’m against extensive change of the Constitution. But definitely I’m in favor of changing and aligning economic conditions with the rest of the world, particularly our region. And that message will (resonate),” he added.
Charter change has failed in the previous Congresses due to criticisms that it could be used to extend the term limits of public officials.
Belmonte said the bill once approved by Congress need not be signed by the President because it needs only to be ratified through a plebiscite synchronized with the 2016 presidential elections.