Government studying if Cha-cha needed for investments

MANILA, Philippines — Just how much economic provisions of the Constitution have gotten in the way of progress is a matter still being studied, President Marcos said yesterday, as lawmakers have again revived the idea of amending the Charter supposedly to make it more responsive to the times.

“We’re just beginning to study, because we keep talking about economic provisions that are getting in the way of some of the potential investors that we are trying to bring to the Philippines,” Marcos told reporters after leading an event organized by the Maynilad Water Services Inc. in Muntinlupa City.

“What we are looking at here is the opportunity cost for those who would like to invest here, but somehow the laws that derived from the Constitution when it comes to the economic provisions do not allow them to or make it non-viable for them,” he said.

Marcos said the existing economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution are discouraging potential investors from proceeding with their plans in the country.

The study aims to evaluate ways to further boost investments, according to the Chief Executive.

“My primary interest is to try and make our country an investment-friendly place,” he said.

“That’s why the study is really not about the Constitution. It’s about what do we need to do – what do we need to change so that these potential investors will in fact come to the Philippines,” he said.

Earlier, Marcos’ cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, said lawmakers would make another pitch for constitutional amendments next year, focusing on economic provisions deemed “very prohibitive.”

“I believe 2024 will allow us again to revisit the whole issue of the Constitution because I think it’s timely that we revisit and I’d say we’d like to focus very much on the economic provisions,” Romualdez told reporters earlier this week.

Romualdez has said the 1987 Constitution is no longer attuned to the digital times.

“In summary, our Constitution, as noble and well-intentioned as it is, has elements that are no longer adaptive to our needs,” he said.

But Sen. Robinhood Padilla wants Charter amendments to focus on political provisions, specifically on term extension for elected officials, including the president and vice president.

In Resolution of Both Houses No. 5 he filed on Wednesday, Padilla said he also wants to amend portions of Article VI or the Legislative Department in the 1987 Constitution to increase the number of senators to 54, of whom 24 would be nationally elected and the remaining 30 would be elected from legislative regions.

The actor-turned-politician also proposed extending senators’ term of office from the current six years to eight years for nationally elected ones (with allowable two terms in office) and four years for the regional senators (three consecutive terms).

Meanwhile, Padilla said the terms of office of members of the House of Representatives should be extended from the current three years to four years, and retaining the current allowable three consecutive terms.

In February, Marcos said he does not consider amending the 1987 Constitution a priority, saying there are more urgent matters that need attention.

Villar: People don’t like it

Meanwhile, Sen. Cynthia Villar expressed opposition to Padilla’s Charter change initiative, saying the people are against it.

“If the people don’t like it, then I don’t like it, too,” Villar told reporters in Filipino.

“It has been noted in all the research that the general public does not like Charter change,” Villar said.

Asked about Padilla’s proposal to extend the term limits of elected officials, Villar said the senator from PDP-Laban would find it difficult to push for amending the political provisions of the Constitution.

“I think he will have a hard time. But we’ll see,” Villar said. “He has a lot of ideas. I’ve been a longtime senator. You don’t do something that the people do not like as a policy.”

At a press briefing on Wednesday, Padilla said he filed the Charter change bill as part of his advocacy for a shift to a federal form of government.

He said he was emboldened to seek an amendment of the politi[1]cal provisions of the Constitution after Romualdez made his own pitch for Cha-cha. — Marc Jayson Cayabyab