‘Senate can’t ignore House-approved hybrid con-con’

MANILA, Philippines — Senators cannot turn a blind eye to the hybrid constitutional convention (con-con) approved by the House of Representatives as such initiative mirrors the sentiment of the people in the grassroots represented by district and party-list congressmen, Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said yesterday.

“The Senate cannot and should not ignore our initiative, which is an expression of the people’s consensus we gathered in our recent nationwide public hearings and consultations,” Rodriguez, chairman of the House committee on constitutional amendments, said.

The Cagayan de Oro City congressmen was reacting to remarks by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri that it would be useless for senators to tackle Charter change at this time since there would be no vote for it in his chamber.

Rodriguez said 301 of the 314 total House members voted for Resolution of Both Houses 6, which urges Congress to convene a constitutional convention to rewrite the Charter’s “restrictive” economic provisions.

“Inter-chamber courtesy calls that the Senate tackles any measure passed by the House, especially if it is approved by an overwhelming vote and requires urgent attention, and vice versa,” Rodriguez stressed.

Another proponent of Charter change, Rep. LRay Villafuerte (Camarines Sur) – who sits as president of the National Unity Party – said their group is fully supportive of moves to amend restrictive economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution.

“Such outdated provisions that need a makeover have scarred the Philippines as among the world’s most restrictive economies when it comes to FDI (foreign direct investments),” he pointed out.

“In a show of unequivocal support for the priority measure on Charter change of the House leadership led by Speaker Martin Romualdez, all of our 45 NUP members have voted for the resolution establishing later this year a 251-member con-con,” he said.

The second largest power bloc in the House, the 57-member Party-list Coalition Foundation Inc., along with other sectoral lawmakers, have expressed full support for a hybrid con-con.

“The PCFI affirms its strong support in favor of the Resolution of Both Houses 6, which calls on Congress to convene a con-con to propose Charter amendments,” the group, led by its president Rep. Zaldy Co of Ako Bicol party-list, said in a statement. The PCFI comprises 20 percent of the total 312 House membership.

“It is a way to attract more foreign investment in the country and generate more income to fund pro-poor programs of the government,” PCFI spokesman and House Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Jude Acidre said.

The chamber’s largest power bloc, the Lakas-CMD party headed by the Speaker himself, has 70 members.

Padilla optimistic

Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who chairs the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, remains optimistic that he can sway his colleagues in the Senate to support Charter change.

Padilla said he was unfazed by the apparent lack of support for Charter change among his colleagues.

“I believe if our fellow senators read my bill, listen to me in plenary, and believe me that we will only touch the economic provisions – only that – this will pass. Because all of them want our country to progress, and there is only one thing to do for us to progress: open our economy to foreign investors,” Padilla told reporters in Filipino.

“We must pursue this (Charter change), even little by little. Let’s not lose hope because this is really a campaign that cannot be won just like that, but through debates,” Padilla said.

He however warned that Charter change is surely dead if the House insists on going the way of constitutional convention, which is viewed with suspicion in and out of the Senate as the mode is not only costly but also exposes the Constitution to other amendments, particularly to its political provisions.

The senator said the elected delegates comprising the con-con can propose all sorts of amendments to the Constitution.

“I will not undertake something that I know will lose. If we force con-con, nothing will happen because there we’ll talk about changing the political structure of the Philippines. No senator will support that,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) has expressed opposition to Charter change, saying the multibillion-peso budget for such initiative should be spent on addressing the educational system’s problems such as shortage in classrooms.

“The Marcos allies in Congress should not force the Cha-cha down our throats to advance foreign interests and their own vested ones. They should be ashamed of planning to squander at least P9.3 billion in such worthless undertakings while precious funds are needed for economic relief and social services amid the economic crisis,” ACT chairperson Vladimer Quetua said.

“The P9.3 billion projected budget for the Cha-cha can go a long way in addressing the grave shortages in education. It can be used to build 4,650 classrooms or provide laptops to 266,000 teachers,” he said.

“Foreign ownership of schools which the Cha-cha seeks to allow is sure to deepen further the colonial character of our education. It runs counter to our objective of strengthening the teaching of patriotism among our youth and making education serve nationalist development,” Quetua said. – Paolo Romero, Elizabeth Marcelo