SEVERAL progressive groups are opposing the Charter change (cha-cha) proposals under the Duterte administration, saying these would worsen the economic situation in the country rather than improve it.
Both IBON Foundation executive director Rosario Bella Guzman and former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares view the deletion of or revisions on the salient economic provisions in the three Charter change proposals as avenues for pushing neoliberal policies. These, they said, allow local oligarchs and foreign corporations to dominate the economy while deepening poverty and inequity in the country.
The three proposals are the Resolution of Both Houses No. 8, the PDP-Laban draft, and House Concurrent Resolution No. 9.
Guzman said she disagreed with the argument of Charter-change proponents that the country needs to open up its economy to the world in order to develop, noting that this neoliberal argument is not even based on evidence.
“Cha-cha is throwing all the ideals of a democratic progressive and sovereign national economy. It is the final nail in the coffin for the pursuit of national development,” she said.
She added that the Philippines even has the material conditions for national development, such as natural resources, people, level of technology and economic progress.
“That is why Cha-cha proponents cannot say that we can’t actually develop on our own. What we need actually is strategic rather than defeatist integration into the global economy,” she said.
Meanwhile, Colmenares, a member of the Samahan at Ugnayan ng mga Konsyumer para sa Ikauunlad ng Bayan, also pointed out that once Charter change is approved, this will condemn the next generation to eternal poverty.
“Whether you are pro-federalism or not, you should fight against this Cha-cha because this is not only an issue of federalism, this is intended to open up the economy. The ones who will be impoverished and who will be struggling because of poverty will include workers, laborers, indigenous peoples and the youth,” he said.
The PDP-Laban draft, one of the three Cha-cha proposals, deleted an entire provision on certificate authorization for the operation of public utilities being granted except to Filipino citizens or corporations which are 60-percent owned by Filipinos, Colmenares said.
Deleting this provision meant that once the economy is opened up, the operation of public utilities is no longer reserved for Filipino citizens or corporations which 60-percent owned by Filipinos, he said.
“In the first place, public utilities shouldn’t be privatized and instead should be government-owned,” he said. “The moment you privatize these public utilities, profit is the main motivation of these public utilities concessionaires and public service is just an afterthought.”
Colmenares explained that this is the reason behind the “high rates” charged by Meralco, Maynilad and MRT3.
“What the government did was to privatize our public utilities. And worse is, under Cha-cha, they did not just privatize the public utilities but they even let private corporations enter,” he said, adding that this would definitely cost the public even much higher rates for using public utilities.
Rochelle Porras of the Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research said this Charter change means intensified neoliberal attacks against the workers.
It includes the deregulation of employment and industrial policies, economic liberalization, privatization of public utilities and the de-nationalization of natural resources and biodiversity.
“Economic provisions under charter change further opens the country to corporate plunder and economic exploitation, such provisions encourage foreigners and foreign national corporations to own productive lands. It also wants to allow corporations to lease more than a thousand hectares of lands of public domain and operate public utilities beyond 15 years,” she said.
Former Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano said Cha-cha under the Duterte administration will undermine the struggle for genuine land reform. referring to the proposal lifting restrictions on foreign ownership on land.
Mariano is also a member of Pagkakaisa para sa Tunay na Repormang Agraryo.
“Let us oppose this constitutional change. The land is for our farmers and not for foreigners.”