‘Constitutional change should be limited to economic provisions’

MANILA, Philippines — Business group Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) supports moves to amend the constitution, provided that it will be conducted through a constitutional assembly and changes will be limited to only the economic provisions.

“Actually, we have a stand there, and our stand is that we agree provided that it is limited to the economic provisions,” MAP president Benedicta Du-Baladad told reporters in an interview.

“So the limitation is on the economic provisions. And that it should be through a constitutional assembly. The reason being, in a constitutional assembly, you can actually limit the coverage of what we can do,” she added, explaining that the constitutional assembly can restrict the changes only to economic provisions.

With limitations set, the MAP president said this would lead to a faster and less costly process.

In a separate interview, American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) Philippines executive director Ebb Hinchliffe said they are supportive only of economic changes to the constitution.

“The rest I’ll leave it to the Filipino people, whether they should change the term limit of the President. That’s up for the Filipinos, not the foreign chambers,” Hinchliffe said.

In a joint statement last month, business groups the Makati Business Club, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, Filipina CEO Circle, Justice Reform Initiative, Philippine Women’s Economic Network and the Women Business Council Philippines listed three points the Senate should consider as the House of Representatives approved earlier in March House Bill 7352, which calls for a constitutional convention (con-con) to amend the 1987 Constitution.

“We respectfully urge the Senate – and the House, if and when the deliberations progress – to consider these and other points raised by our colleagues in various sectors as you decide on this potentially disruptive proposal at a time when the country may be poised to regain its economic momentum,” the statement read in part.

The groups emphasized that with the high financial cost of amending the Charter, the funds would be better spent on pro-people programs. It cited National Economic and Development Authority estimates that a con-con would cost from P14 billion to P28 billion.

The groups also said that HB 7352 proposes that the 300 con-con delegates would receive an allowance of P10,000 per day – a total of P3 million per day, or more than P400 million for the seven-month project.

“We believe these funds can be better used on agriculture to address the high inflation, transportation to enable Filipinos to get to work and home in much less time and needed social services like health, education and social security,” the groups said.

They also pointed out that from the low-end estimated cost of P14 billion, the government could already double the spending on farm to market roads, increase by half the spending on irrigation or the national rice program, double the spending on school buildings or almost double the spending on hospitals and health centers.

Aside from these, the six groups fear that a political debate could derail the recent reforms and President Marcos’ efforts to achieve substantial economic gains.

“We have long supported proposals to amend economic provisions of the constitution that impede trade, investment, innovation, competition and economic and job growth. However, recently enacted laws and regulations like amendments to the Public Service Act, Retail Trade Liberalization Act, the Foreign Investment Act, the passage of the Rice Trade Liberalization Act and the Department of Energy circular allowing 100 percent foreign ownership in the renewable energy sector have addressed many of these impediments,” the groups said.

“We believe that these reforms, combined with President Marcos’ efforts to revive local and foreign investment, can accelerate recovery and job growth at a time when the Philippines and the world face serious economic headwinds,” they said.

The groups pointed out that investors look for stability when making investment decisions.

“The possibly lengthy and fractious process of amending the Constitution may make investors take a wait and see attitude for an extended period of time and thereby derail the impact of the reforms,” they added.

In addition, the business groups also noted that Congress has important work on economic and other legislation as it has yet to pass at least two more tax reform bills and other measures such as the Ease of Paying Taxes bill.