‘Political changes to doom Cha-cha’

MANILA, Philippines - Proposing changes in the political provisions of the Constitution will doom a renewed effort by some lawmakers to have the Charter amended and made more investor-friendly.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II issued the warning yesterday after Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and his brother Maximo, who represents the party-list group Abante Mindanao, filed a bill proposing a constitutional convention to revise both the political and economic provisions of the Charter.

Gonzales said the House leadership would not allow the Rodriguez brothers’ plan to have members of the chamber tinker with the political provisions of the Constitution “because that will kill our Cha-cha initiative.”

He said the Rodriguez brothers’ initiative, if allowed to take its course, would bolster suspicion that lawmakers and politicians would use Charter change to prolong their stay in power and not in pursuit of reforms. 

At Malacañang, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte shrugged off the Rodriguez brothers’ proposal, saying “our lawmakers are free to push whatever initiatives they like under the law, or what we call, short of it that they are advocating.”

“We want to focus on the economic provisions because we believe that we need to lift certain foreign ownership restrictions to sustain the economic growth the nation has achieved under President Aquino,” Gonzales said. “What we’re after are the investments that would create jobs and growth,” he told The STAR.

The Rodriguez brothers want sweeping changes in the political provisions of the Charter including shifting from presidential to parliamentary-federal system, conversion of the present two-chamber Congress into a one-chamber parliament, and lifting of term limits for senators, congressmen and local officials.

Gonzales said that if Charter change proponents include the conversion of Congress into a unicameral parliament in their proposals, senators would surely kill the initiative since it would mean abolishing the Senate.

He said there is a greater chance that senators would agree to Charter change if such endeavor would be confined to the Constitution’s economic provisions.

While the Rodriguez brothers want a nationally elected convention to propose constitutional amendments, Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and Gonzales want the Senate and the House to do the job.

The two chambers, based on Belmonte’s proposal, would have to convene as a constituent assembly but vote separately on proposed constitutional changes. Belmonte, a member of the ruling Liberal Party, is likely to be reelected Speaker in the current Congress.

“You’ll see later that the events will speak for itself… only the Concurrent Resolution is likely to be reported out by the committee,” Gonzales said, when asked whether the Rodriguez bill would be considered.

Valte, meanwhile, said that while “divergent positions” are welcome, “the President has not changed his position on this particular issue.” 

She expressed confidence that like in the 15th Congress, the executive and legislative departments would be able to preserve their good working relations despite some differences over the Charter issue.

“We have seen that in the past Congress. This issue is not new. It has also been open to the public about how key players discussed this issue and the relationship went well as many legislators have supported the administration,” Valte said.

La Union Rep. Victor Ortega, a delegate to the 1971 Constitutional Convention, also expressed support for Belmonte’s resolution, saying charter reforms are long overdue.

“I have been fighting for charter change for the past 20 years. I agree with Speaker Belmonte that we need to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution to attract foreign investments and capital that will create more employment and reduce the incidence of poverty in the country,” Ortega said.

He said that while Charter change should have been done during the early years of the Aquino administration, it still could be realized before 2016.

“The best time for charter change should have been during the first year and a half of the Aquino administration. This is the second best time,” he said.

He said that while he prefers the con-con mode of amending the Constitution, any charter reform efforts should not be hampered by debates over which mode is best. “The ultimate goal is to improve the Constitution. The route is only secondary,” Ortega said.

Citizens’ Battle Against Crime and Corruption (CIBAC) party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna appealed to the public particularly the skeptics to have an open mind on the issue.

“The charter reform is at the heart of legislation, the heart of democracy,” he said.

Tugna said restrictions on foreign ownership of businesses have tempted some businessmen to resort to creating dummies to accommodate foreign capital.

“US corporations for example are covered by racketeering and corruption laws that if they violate even outside the US, they can be prosecuted. So they can’t invest fully in the Philippines even if they want to,” he said.

Reached for comment on Gonzales’ warning, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who is president of the Centrist Democratic Party, said senators and the people “should keep an open mind not only on economic Cha-cha but on political Cha-cha as well.”

“Secessionist efforts in Mindanao and even in the Visayas are rooted in the unitary-presidential system that we have and which has failed us. Imperial Manila continues to dictate on the regions, and development is centered only here in Metro Manila,” Rodriguez said.

“What is wrong with trying the federal-parliamentary type of government which can work wonders for our country? It could be the answer to the Bangsamoro problem,” he said.

But Rodriguez admitted that rewriting the Charter’s economic provisions to ease restrictions on foreign ownership and investment “is more urgent” than tinkering with the political provisions.

“We have to finish economic Cha-cha in 2014 in preparation for ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) integration in 2015, when the entire ASEAN region will be one big common market and investment area,” he said.

Unless foreign ownership and investment limits are scrapped, “we might be overtaken by Cambodia and Vietnam in terms of economic growth and poverty reduction,” he said. But he appealed to his colleagues to review the Charter’s political provisions as well “because the inherent gridlock in the presidential system is also hindering economic growth.”  

‘PNoy has spoken’

Opposition Sen. Nancy Binay said Charter change should not be prioritized just as President Aquino had repeatedly told his allies.

“For me, President Noynoy has already spoken. This is not a priority. For me, I would rather take my cue from the President. There might be more important matters that we need to discuss,” Binay said in an interview last Thursday, shortly after she met with members of the new minority group at the Coconut Palace.

Her opposition colleague acting Senate President Jinggoy Estrada had also voiced his approval for introducing changes in the Constitution but only in its economic provisions. He also said Charter change proponents should take advantage of the popularity of President Aquino to launch their initiative.

But for Sen. Francis Escudero “it is not timely and necessary at this time, especially the amendment on political provisions.”

Sen. Gregorio Honasan said a “comprehensive approach” to amending the Constitution should include removal of “all defective provisions.”

Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) president Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, for his part, said there are provisions in the Charter that need to be revised or done away with but that officials should exercise caution.

“We know that this is one aspect in our life that we need to study very well and not suddenly,” Palma said in CBCPNews, the official news service provider of the CBCP.

“So without denying there (are) also provisions in the Constitution that need to be changed and yet as we always say we should be extra cautious and I think we need more time to study,” he said.

The CBCP president said they are also taking into consideration the huge expenses required for such an endeavor.

“So these are factors that we usually leave to the constitutional experts. But even before these are certain factors that we really have talked about,” he added. –With Delon Porcalla, Evelyn Macairan, Christina Mendez