Rufus: Amendments mean more jobs, more income for Pinoys
THE country’s slump in the latest economic freedom rankings among 176 nations highlights the need for Congress to work on rewriting the “restrictive” economic provisions of the Constitution, Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez said Saturday.
“We are now considered ‘mostly unfree,’ after being ‘moderately free’ for nine consecutive years. We have to do something about the reported deteriorating economic freedom in our country,” Rodriguez, who chairs the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, said.
Rodriguez said the current initiative in the House to start the process of amending the Constitution is aimed at tweaking the Charter’s economic provisions to further open up the economy to foreign investments.
“That is our goal. More investments would mean more jobs and income for our people,” he stressed.
Rodriguez’s committee has endorsed Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6, which calls on Congress to convene a constitutional convention to propose Charter amendments.
The Mindanao lawmaker said the country’s latest economic freedom ranking would prompt senators to consider the resolution when it is sent to them.
He said though a convention would have plenary powers, the “collective wish” of House members is for it to limit itself to changing the Constitution’s economic provisions.
According to the US-based think tank, The Heritage Foundation’s 2023 Index of Economic Freedom report, the Philippines fell to 89th place out of 176 countries with a score of 59.3 points.
The country’s ranking has slumped for a third straight year, from 73rd in 2021 and 80th in 2022. It was in 70th place in 2019 and 2020.
The Heritage Foundation reported that among 39 Asia-Pacific nations, the Philippines ranked 18th, behind Malaysia (42th), Indonesia (60th), Vietnam (72nd), and Thailand (80th).
Singapore is the world’s “freest economy,” topping the economic freedom index, followed by Switzerland, Ireland, Taiwan, and New Zealand.
