TUCP: Cha-cha will reinvigorate economy

The country’s biggest labor union expressed support for Charter change (Cha-cha) yesterday, saying constitutional reform would reinvigorate the economy and create a pro-labor atmosphere in the country.

Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) spokesman Alexander Aguilar said "structural flaws" in the Constitution should be corrected immediately so there would be no need for workers in the C, D and E brackets to hold rallies and beg Congress for a salary increase.

"We in the labor sector recognize that for the economy to perform better, there is a great need to institute constitutional reforms to allow the inflow of foreign investments that will generate more jobs and livelihood opportunities for the working masses," he said.

In a statement, Aguilar claimed the strengthening of peso and stock market and increasing foreign investments were now "beginning to bear fruit."

But these developments, he said, could only be sustained by liberalizing the economic provisions in the Constitution to attract more foreign investors.

"A unicameral parliamentary government will smoothly address these headaches because it is a more efficient legislative machine than the present bicameral system (in which) the House of Representatives and the Senate have always been at odds on even the most trivial matters," Aguilar said.

He said workers have been pushing for reforms that would improve their living conditions but their appeals are not heeded in Congress.

This has been going on for so long but "it looks like it is only now that we are seeing a better than good chance of instituting reforms through Cha-cha. Every Filipino is now waking up to reality," Aguilar said.

Aguilar represents the workforce in the 15-member Charter Change Advocacy Commission (AdCom), which kicked off a nationwide campaign last Monday to educate the public about the benefits of amending the Constitution.

AdCom has conducted information campaigns in Baguio City, Zambales, Pampanga and Pangasinan.

The 1.7 million-strong Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines, on the other hand, has launched an advocacy drive to complement AdCom’s campaign.

Local government units (LGUs) want to do away with the frustrating gridlock in Congress, wherein the Senate has often failed to act on priority bills because it was focused on politically charged legislative inquiries and privilege speeches, forcing legislation to a standstill.

Reports quoting House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles showed that the Senate failed to act on at least 30 priority bills passed by the House of Representatives last year.

Among the bills still pending in the Senate are the proposed tax amnesty measure, consolidated investment incentive code, the Anti-Smuggling Act of 2005, the bio-ethanol bill and a measure condoning penalties on payments for low-cost housing units.

The Senate also failed to act on an urgent Malacañang-sponsored measure providing for an across-the-board increase of P1,000 in the monthly salary of government workers.

To address this, President Arroyo issued an administrative order classifying the additional pay as an increase in the allowance of government employees.

Aguilar pointed out that under a unicameral legislature, the key job of parliament would be to institute enough safeguards to ensure that constitutional provisions opening up the economy to foreign capital and investments would not be abused.

"We are looking at a unicameral parliament to guarantee equal, if not primary, opportunities for Filipinos... this, aside from job-generation opportunities," he said.

Aguilar said the government also must consider the growing population, with some 600,000 fresh graduates joining the job market each year.

He said four million Filipinos remain unemployed, 26 percent of those who do have jobs are underemployed and up to 3,000 leave the country for jobs overseas.

"These are glaring proofs that sweeping changes should be undertaken to rev up the economy and create more and better domestic job opportunities. Charter change is the key," Aguilar said.