THE House Committee on Constitutional Amendments yesterday adopted the proposal to convene a constitutional convention (con-con) as the mode to amend the 1987 Constitution, days after President Marcos Jr. made it clear that Charter change is not among his administration’s priorities.
The panel, chaired by Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, voted 16-3 with one abstention in favor of a still unnumbered Resolution of Both Houses which called for a con-con, the chosen delegates to which will be tasked to introduce the amendments or revisions to the Charter.
Lawmakers approved the resolution after holding public hearings and public consultations, some of which were held in the provinces such as Cagayan de Oro, Iloilo, Pampanga and Bulacan.
The initial proposal is to elect delegates on October 30, 2023, simultaneously with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections (BSKE) but Rodriguez clarified that the panel still has to approve an accompanying bill since the resolution is merely a “general statement” of the panel.
The committee was supposed to vote on the accompanying bill, but House senior deputy minority leader Paul Daza asked the panel that members be given more time to study the measure.
Because of this, congressmen will still hold another hearing on Wednesday to finalize which provisions of the Charter will be amended.
There has been a brewing consensus that only the “restrictive” economic provisions will be changed to attract more foreign investors.
The resolution said the measure needs the approval of two-thirds of the members of Congress, as stated by the Constitution, while clarifying that the House and the Senate will be voting separately since the Charter does not say how the voting should be undertaken.
The panel was leaning towards approving a bill calling for a “hybrid” constitutional convention which was the mode proposed by former chief justice Reynato Puno who attended the hearing as a resource person.
While he maintained that con-con remains the best mode to amend the Constitution, Puno said he was not suggesting that Congress take the traditional route where all the delegates are elected by the people.
Puno, who wants a revision of the Charter instead of what he called “piece meal” amendments, said he was proposing a hybrid set-up “given the seeming deterioration of our political processes,” stressing that “there is the lurking danger that the elected delegates to a constitutional convention will just be proxies or factotums of political dynasties and economic oligarchs.”
The retired magistrate, who led a consultative committee in 2018 tasked to craft a proposed federal constitution, said taking the traditional con-con route may drive away experts in politics, law and economics “knowing its futility.”
Puno suggested that under the hybrid model, the con-con will be a combination of delegates jointly elected by the public and experts appointed and vetted by Malacañang and Congress.
‘SHOOING AWAY INVESTORS’
Camarines Sur Luis Rep. Raymund Villafuerte, one of the con-con proponents, said the Constitution’s 60-40 ownership cap in favor of Filipinos “puts off foreign investors.”
Despite a troika of business-friendly laws signed during the previous administration, he said foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows have not been as large as those streaming to our Southeast Asian neighbors “because of our restrictive, inward-looking Constitution that turns off foreign capitalists because it prohibits them from taking full control of Philippine corporations and owning lands needed for their local businesses.”
“Hence the need for a constitutional convention (con-con) comprising duly elected delegates to work on, and clear the way to, amendments to the off-putting economic provisions of the 1987 Charter that bar foreigners from having 100 percent control of corporations they invest in or buying lands needed for their operations because they are limited to owning or controlling a maximum 40 percent of these businesses.”
Villafuerte said the main source of poverty in the country is low agricultural output. “There’s a lot of lands in the country that are idle. We need foreign capital and foreign technology to harness such idle lands,” said Villafuerte, author of proposed House Bill No. 4926.
“So in order to have more foreign capital flowing into the country, we should allow ownership as part of the menu for investors,” said the president of the National Unity Party (NUP).
Villafuerte said the con-con route at this early stage of the Marcos presidency is the more feasible route instead of the proposal to allow legislators to convene themselves into a constituent assembly (con-ass) to amend the Charter.
He pointed out that now is the best time for Cha-cha because the initiative would not raise suspicions that there is an ulterior motive to extend the terms of incumbent elective officials.
‘THERE IS ANOTHER WAY’
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the Marcos government will attract foreign investors without amending the Charter by showing the international community that values and protects human rights and social justice.
“There are two major acts of international consequence which the Marcos Jr. administration can undertake to greatly enhance the entry of foreign investments in the country without amending the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution,” he said.
First, Lagman said, is allowing the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutors “to resume the investigation of crimes against humanity which were committed consequent to the vicious and brutal campaign on illegal drugs by former President Rodrigo Duterte.”
“The contumacious refusal of the Philippine government to submit to the clear jurisdiction of the ICC makes the Philippines a renegade in the community of nations and deters foreign investors from coming in,” he said.
Second, the veteran lawyer-lawmaker said, is for the President to order public prosecutors “to withdraw their feeble opposition to former senator Leila de Lima’s petition for bail.”
“The release of De Lima after almost six years of odious incarceration will bolster the government’s claim of adherence to human rights and the rule of law and will convince investors that they will have a safe haven in the country,” Lagman said.
