House leaders on Monday advised senators to adopt the rules of the House of Representatives on Charter change, as they expressed concern over the absence of clear guidelines within the Senate for amending the 1987 Constitution.
This also raised questions about the sincerity of senators in pushing for economic constitutional reforms, Deputy Speaker and Quezon 2nd District Rep. David Suarez said in a press conference.
“Well, if they don’t have rules, maybe the best advice is for them to go to Congress because we already have governing rules or they can always adopt the rules that the House is conducting itself with,” Suarez said.
Meanwhile, Senator Risa Hontiveros said the opposition has “a fighting chance” of obtaining at least seven votes from senators who want to dislodge the plan to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution through the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6.
Pressed if the seven senators had committed to reject Charter change, Hontiveros admitted this was based on her office’s political mapping “on the numbers and balance of forces in the Senate.”
She took a swipe at senators who initially announced “with conidence” that they have 18 votes to affirm RBH 6, which seeks to amend three restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution.
“But I think, it is has been vindicated since it’s not accurate. And up to this day, I believe, we still have a fighting chance to gather at least seven votes needed to put down RBH 6,” she said.
Senator Francis Escudero had warned his colleagues to not proceed with hearings on RBH 6, without a clear set of guidelines that are contained in the Rules of the Senate, an idea echoed by Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel over the weekend.
Escudero noted that the Rules of the Senate do not have a specific section on procedures on constitutional amendments, unlike the House of Representatives, which are categorically stated in its Sections 143 and 144 under its Rule XXI.
Suarez also emphasized the transparency and commitment to established rules of the House, as he extended an invitation to the Senate to follow suit.
“We here at the House have been very transparent from Day One. You can see the course of our deliberations and then you can see that we also have rules that are followed based on the rules of the Congress. So for the Senate, you can adopt our rules, or if not you can join us in the deliberations. And we can be one happy family,” Suarez said.
Meanwhile, former National Security Adviser and retired professor Clarita Carlos on Monday expressed support for the proposed economic constitutional amendments the House is tackling as a Committee of the Whole.
She told the committee’s fourth hearing on its RBH 7 – identical to the Senate’s RBH 6 — that a Constitution should be “a living document that should reflect the political and economic conditions of our times.”
If the basic law fails to adapt in the constantly changing environment of a borderless world, it should be changed, there should be a “reset,” she said.
“Let us build bridges, not walls, to the rest of the world,” Carlos said.
She stressed that a Constitution “should be facilitative, not restrictive.”
Carlos urged those opposed to opening up education to foreign investors to think about its potential outcome, which is “effective learning,” and not ownership issues.
RBH 7, authored by Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. and other House leaders, contains the proposed economic Charter changes pending in the House.
The measure is almost an exact reproduction of RBH 6, introduced in the Senate by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senators Loren Legarda and Juan Edgardo Angara.
RBH Nos. 6 and 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.”
Another Committee of the Whole House resource person, Orion Perez Dumdum of Correct (Constitutional Reform and Rectification for Economic Competitiveness and Transformation) Movement, cited the benefits of opening education to foreign investors.
He said it would be cheaper for Filipino students to obtain high-quality foreign education if foreign universities are allowed to establish wholly-owned campuses in the Philippines.
Dumdum, who has lived in Singapore as an overseas Filipino worker for more than 20 years, said there are several foreign universities operating in Singapore.
He said Malaysia has at least 10, while Vietnam has five, including one American university.
A third speaker, Eduardo Araral, a Filipino teaching at the National University of Singapore, spoke on the results of his study on why Vietnam is attracting more foreign investments than the Philippines.
He said Vietnam has 50-percent cheaper electricity and a lower corporate tax.
It also has a “highly competitive workforce,” he said.
Vietnam has attracted a lot of foreign investors in electronics, including Samsung, which accounts for 28 percent of the country’s economy, he said.