Speaker Romualdez says changes last piece in investment puzzle

WITH a vote of 288 in favor and eight against and two abstentions, the House of Representatives on Wednesday approved on third and final reading the proposed amendments to the Constitution’s restrictive economic provisions.

The amendment proposals are contained in Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7 authored principally by Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker and Quezon Rep. David Suarez, Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Alexander Marcos, and other House leaders.

Speaker Romualdez reiterated that the proposed economic amendments to the Constitution are the “last piece in the puzzle of investment measures” the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has been taking “to sustain our economic growth, create more job and income opportunities, and in general, make life better for Filipinos.”

“These changes, if ratified by our people in a plebiscite, will greatly boost these measures, including our President’s investment missions abroad which have generated actual investments and pledges in the billions of dollars and created thousands of jobs,” he said.

The approval by Congress and by the people of the proposed amendments “will send a powerful message to foreign investors and the international community that the Philippines is now fully open for business and for investments,” he said.

He added that as pointed out by numerous resource persons during the Committee of the Whole House deliberations, the proposed amendment “are necessary but not enough” to attract foreign direct investments.

“We heard the wise counsel and suggestions of the resource persons and experts we invited to our hearings. We assure the business community and our people that we are working on the other factors that affect investments, like ease of doing business, the high cost of electricity, infrastructure, and similar issues,” Speaker Romualdez stressed.

He pointed out that in fact, Congress has passed the Ease of Doing Business Bill, which President Marcos has already signed into law.

“The enactment of this law and the recent amendments Congress made to the Public Service Act, Retail Trade Liberalization Law and the Foreign Investment Act are proof that Congress is doing its part in working on measures that it can pass to bring in more foreign investments,” he said.

However, he lamented that these efforts of the legislature are negated by foreign capital and foreign ownership restrictions set in the Constitution.

Thus, the need for the proposed amendments embodied in RBH No. 7 and RBH No. 6, which is the Senate version of the economic Charter change proposals, he said.

He said he hoped the Senate would pass its version soon.

He said the House delivered on its promise to approve the amendment proposals before Congress goes on its five-week Holy Week recess this weekend.

Final approval of RBH No. 7 came after two weeks of exhaustive plenary deliberations, preceded by equally extensive and marathon two weeks of Committee of the Whole House hearings.

Dalipe, Gonzales and Suarez alternately presided over the Committee of the Whole House discussions, while Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali “Boyet” Gonzales II acted as the panel’s majority leader.

The committee attempted to hear all sides of the issues, inviting panelists who supported the proposed amendments as well as those who opposed them.

It also gave House members enough time to question the resource persons and experts, and to express their views in support for or opposition to the economic Charter change proposals.

Among the witnesses invited and heard were National Economic and Development Authority Director General Arsenio Balisacan, former NEDA secretary Gerardo Sicat, former finance secretary Margarito Teves, former Supreme Court chief justices Reynato Puno and Hilario Davide Jr., former Supreme Court justices Adolf Azcuna and Vicente Mendoza, IBON Foundation executive director Sonny Africa, and officials of the Department of Finance, Department of Foreign Affairs, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and Department of Trade and Industry with knowledge of foreign direct investments entering the country.

The resource persons and experts also included other former Cabinet members, former lawmakers, academics, educators and professionals based abroad, economics, and framers of the present Constitution.

Puno, Davide, Azcuna, and former Commission on Elections chairman Christian Monsod were among the Charter framers who gave their testimonies to the Committee of the Whole House.

At the end of its sixth day of hearings on March 6, the committee thanked all panelists for sharing their precious time and valuable expertise with the House.

RBH No. 6 and RBH No. 7 are both entitled, “A Resolution of Both Houses of Congress proposing amendments to certain economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, particularly on Articles Xll, XlV and XVl.”

The Senate version, RBH No. 6, is authored by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senators Loren Legarda and Juan Edgardo Angara. It is pending with a special subcommittee chaired by Angara, which has started hearings on it.

The suggested principal amendment is the insertion of the phrase, “unless otherwise provided by law,” in Section 11 of Article XII on the ownership of public utilities (60-40) and in Paragraph 2, Section 11 of Article XVI on the ownership (70-30) of advertising entities.

Authors of RBH No. 7 have said the amendment would allow Congress to pass laws to adjust the present foreign equity limitations.

Another proposed Charter change is the addition of the qualifier “basic” to Paragraph 2, Section 4 of Article XIV, the provision on educational institutions presently required to be owned 60-40 by Filipino citizens or corporations.

This means that basic education facilities would remain to be in Filipino hands, while higher education facilities would be open to full foreign ownership, according to the authors of RBH No. 7 and some Committee of the Whole House panelists.

However, the phrase, “unless otherwise provided by law,” was also added to the last sentence of Article XIV on control and administration of educational institutions mandated to be vested in Filipino citizens under the Charter’s present wording.

RBH No. 7 and RBH No. 6 likewise restate the provision of the Constitution that Congress may propose amendments “upon a vote of three-fourths of all its members.”

However, in their resolution, after the phrase “…a vote of all its members,” Zubiri, Legarda and Angara added the words, “each House voting separately.”

Authors of RBH No. 7 said the phrase, “each House voting separately,” is not present in the Constitution.