MANILA, Philippines — The push to amend economic provisions in the Constitution, touted by its advocates to breathe new life into the country’s investment climate, has been pronounced dead in the Senate.
This was the admission of its staunch proponent in the upper chamber, Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who told reporters on Thursday that Cha-cha train has stopped chugging especially after the demotion of Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (Pampanga) as senior deputy speaker.
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“It died when chaos hit the House of Representatives,” Padilla said in Filipino. “When that happened, what was once on its deathbed had died.”
He said Arroyo getting stripped of the senior deputy speaker title is a “big issue” among lawmakers which has a “huge effect,” but did not want to discuss further.
The House under the leadership of Speaker Martin Romualdez gave priority to pushing for Cha-cha through a constitutional convention, but senators were cool to the proposal as they said there were more pressing issues to tackle.
Apart from developments at the House, Padilla said his ardent push for Cha-cha also failed as he only received the support of four senators, all of whom are his fellow PDP-Laban senators.
“We respect our other colleagues who did not respond or sign the committee report that we sent out. We expected that because even before the recess, they have said that our proposal has no future,” he said.
With the death of this iteration of economic Cha-cha, Padilla said he will have to settle with the amended Public Services Act and the looming creation of the Maharlika Investment Fund which he hopes will also bring in foreign investments into the country.
But Padilla said he is still keen on resurrecting other proposals for constitutional amendments, including on political provisions such as the bases for the declaration of martial law and term extensions.