The chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments appealed to the Senate on Wednesday to give the proposal for economic Charter change a chance.
At a news forum, Ako Bicol Partylist Rep. Alfredo Garbin Jr., the panel chairman, said Congress should allow also the proposal to reach the public through a plebiscite.
“Our call [on the Senate] is to give it a chance. The Filipino people who truly own the Constitution, let’s do this through a plebiscite,” he said.
“Without ratification the Charter change still remains a proposal,” Garbin added.
Garbin admitted that the lower chamber has no “Plan B” if the Senate does not approve the proposed Charter change.
But Garbin said the directive of Speaker Lord Allan Velasco is to pass the proposal in the plenary by meeting the three-fourths vote of all the members by next week.
Garbin reiterated that should the constitutional amendments be ratified, this will not result in the automatic lifting of economic restrictions, but will give the next Congress the freedom to enact legislation that will be more responsive to economic conditions and realities.
“The next Congress will have its leeway and flexibility to enact legislation that conform to the present economic conditions,” Garbin said.
According to Garbin, the House leadership expects the plenary deliberations to begin next week, with the plebiscite to be conducted together with the 2022 national elections.
“We hope that by next week, this will be referred to the plenary so that the plenary debate can begin immediately. That is the most important thing to talk about,” he said.
“This time around in the plenary, where we are exercising our constituent power to propose amendments to the Constitution, everyone will be given time for their questions to really scrutinize this proposal,” he added.
Voting 64 affirmative, 3 negative with 3 abstentions, the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments on Tuesday adopted Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 filed by Velasco seeking to give Congress the flexibility to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution to help the Philippine economy recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The resolution seeks to amend certain economic provisions of the 33-year-old Charter particularly Articles XII (National Economy and Patrimony), XIV (Education, Science, Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports) and XVI (General Provisions).
It seeks to insert the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” to several sections of the Constitution, which restrict foreign ownership of public utilities, educational institutions, media and advertising. The addition of this phrase will allow Congress to enact laws to free up the economy to foreign investors, or maintain the status quo.
However, the committee excluded from the resolution the proposed amendment to Section 7 of Article XII referring to the ban on foreign ownership of land.
Garbin said the committee considered the positions and comments of the resource persons in dropping the provision on foreign ownership of land.
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