THE House of Representatives is targeting to wrap its deliberations on its proposed economic Charter amendments before its Holy Week break this week.
“Under the original timeline set by our good Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, we hope to have final approval before our scheduled adjournment on Wednesday, barring any last-minute delay,” Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga third District Rep. Aurelio D. Gonzales Jr. was quoted in a statement his office issued last Sunday.
Gonzales reiterated Congress has no intention to make any changes in the political provisions of the Constitution.
“We have proven the doubters wrong: No term extension proposal for any elective official,” the lawmaker said.
The Lower House and the Senate will be on their Holy Week Break from March 23 to April 28. The House of Representatives already passed the Resolution of Both Houses 7 (RBH7) for the proposed charter change on second reading last Wednesday.
According to a news report, the Senate wants to reset the date of the final approval of the RBH7 to May instead. The RBH7 aims to amend certain economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Among the provisions lawmakers want to amend are on the grant of legislative franchises to and ownership (60-40) of public utilities in Article Xll as well as administration and control of basic educational facilities in Article XlV and ownership of advertising firms (70-30) in Article XVl.
Congress also wants the insertion of the phrase, “unless otherwise provided by law,” which will empower its to change present economic restrictions.
Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Raymund F. Villafuerte said the charter change will help address the 2-year plunge in foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows.
“This to me is the most striking evidence that the outdated protectionist provisions of our Constitution make up the single biggest deal breaker for foreign investors,” the lawmaker said.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported FDI net inflow dropped to $8.86 billion last year from $9.49 billion. The BSP attributed the decline to “subdued global economic growth and geopolitical risks.”