Veteran legislator and Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman on Wednesday welcomed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s pronouncement that Charter change is “not a priority” of his administration.
“I hope President Marcos will remain steadfast in his position that amending the 1987 Constitution is not in the administration’s priority agenda,” Lagman said in a statement.
Lagman said he shared the view of the President that foreign investments will come, as they presently do, even without amending the Constitution’s economic provisions. “Moreover, charter change is not timely as we have to devote our full efforts and resources to address mounting economic woes on inflation, poverty, and food security, among others,” Lagman stated.
He said “Cha-cha is out of tune now” — this despite the commitment of the heads of the House and Senate committees on constitutional amendments to continue holding public hearings and consultations on “Cha-cha” proposals.
“We can still achieve what we want within the present Constitution, with the way the Constitution is written,” the President earlier said. Mr. Marcos acknowledged that talks on Charter change have surfaced “because of the economic provisions.”
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III , Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva, and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Tuesday meanwhile said they agree with the President that foreign investments can still trickle in without amending the Constitution.
“The President is correct to say that there are better things that need to be done first and that we can generate foreign investments without amending the Constitution,” Pimentel said.
Villanueva said there were also several measures enacted into law to attract foreign investments. At present, he said they should study the effects of amending the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Foreign Investments Act, and Public Services Act on foreign direct investments in the country.
Cayetano added that “if the President feels amendments cannot be made today, let’s take it slowly. Let us prioritize improving the economy.”
Cayetano added that all needed reforms are already there. He said this is also part of political maturity.
Pimentel noted that the proposal to change the economic provisions of the Constitution is not urgent at all. “We have passed some economic liberalization laws,” Pimentel said.
He asserted no need to change economic provisions as we have the Public Service Act, the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, and the Foreign Investment Act, among others.
However, he stressed the future need to revisit its political provisions to improve the country’s system of governance.
He still believes that there is a need to revise the political provisions of the Constitution and reform the system of governance to, among others, reform the partylist system and provide more safeguards against political dynasty.
Pimentel has long advocated a shift in the country’s form of government to parliamentary with a unicameral system.
But Pimentel said “the long-standing proposal to reform the country’s political system can wait in favor of more pressing issues.”
“What is more urgent now is to alleviate the struggles of ordinary Filipinos.”
“If we can help them improve their daily lives, then we give them better chances in participating in the growing economy,” the senator said.
The government, he said, should maximize the recently enacted economic laws that aim to boost the nation’s economic recovery.
“We have yet to fully realize the economic benefits of the amended Public Service Act, the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, and the Foreign Investment Act.
These are all directed to address the so-called restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution and to allow more foreign direct investments to come in the country,” he said.
Thus, Pimentel called on the executive to finalize immediately the implementing rules and regulations of the Public Service Act, saying it does not have to wait for the Supreme Court to decide on the pending case against the law.
Pimentel was the sponsor of the Retail Trade Liberalization Act during the previous Congress.
The veteran lawmaker said that the said economic laws were amended to specifically cater to the present needs of the nation – to stimulate the economy, welcome competition in business and create more jobs for the Filipinos.
“We should maximize the implementation of these economic laws first,” Pimentel said.
“Let us instead work as hard in getting closer to our collective dream of every Filipino enjoying a strongly rooted, comfortable, and secure life,” the senator urged.