Solons urged to focus on amending 1987 charter’s economic provisions
A veteran solon is urging his colleagues in Congress to just focus on amending the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Deputy Minority Leader and Northern Samar Rep. Paul Daza is fully supportive of the proposals to effect some changes on the economic provisions of the Constitution as one way to address economic challenges in this time that the country is recovering from the pandemic.
“My belief that the Philippines has remained rigidly restrictive when it comes to foreign direct investment up to this day mainly because of the provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. In fact, our country perennially ranked third out of 84 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) list of most FDI-restrictive states,” Daza said.
“Sadly, the OECD’s checklist almost sounds like a record of the Philippine situation: foreign equity limitations, discriminatory screening or approval mechanisms, restrictions on the employment of foreigners as key personnel, and other operational restrictions, such as those on branching and capital repatriation or land ownership by foreign-owned enterprises,” he added.
Daza underscored the need to open up the Philippine economy and become a more significant player in the Global Economy.
House Committee on Constitutional Amendments chair Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez noted Daza’s comments and said he would urge the panel to focus only on the economic provisions.
Earlier, the committee has approved the bill which paves the way for charter change, wherein a hybrid Constitutional Convention (“Con-Con”) will be convened.
Majority of the delegates will be elected by the people white the remaining 20 percent will be appointed by the president, the approved version said.
The measure is up for plenary discussions and some lawmakers are introducing some amendments.
The substantial cost involved in a Constitutional Convention is estimated between P10 to P15 billion.
