Ako-Bicol party-list Rep. Alfredo Garbin said the prospering of Charter change (Cha-cha) discussions in the House of Representatives won't automatically lead to the lifting of the targeted, "restrictive" economic provisions in the Constitution.
“In the final analysis, ang taumbayan naman talaga ang may pagmamay-ari ng Konstitusyon dahil (it is the people that owns the Constitution because) whatever we approve in the committee and in the plenary remains a proposal until it is ratified by the Filipino people and the plebiscite called for that purpose," said Garbin, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
“Kung hindi naman naratipika, wala rin mangyari doon sa proposal (No ratification means that nothing will happen to the proposal) as it still remains a proposal," he noted.
By "proposal," Garbin was referring to Resolution of Both Houses 2 (RBH 2), which proposes amendments to economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution, particularly on Articles 2, 14, and 16. Speaker Lord Allan Velasco filed the measure in July 2019.
The Bicol solon also explained that should the constitutional amendments be ratified, this will not result in the automatic lifting of the economic provisions. Instead, it will give the next Congress the freedom to enact legislation that will be more responsive to economic conditions and realities, he said.
"At least hindi na tayo nakagapos...33 years ago nakagapos pa rin tayo sa napakahigpit na restriction na ito. Tayo na lang mayroon nito compared to other countries na open (At least we will no longer be bound by the 33-year-old restrictions. We're the only country that still have these, others have opened up)," he said.
Garbin – in response to endless allegations that the Cha-cha effort would also lead to political amendments such as the lifting of elected officials' term limits – stressed that the proposals are limited to the economic provisions specified in RBH No.2.
House Deputy Speaker for Legal Affairs Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez recently sounded off on these concerns as well.
"(The wholesale revision of the Constitution is) not what we envision. What Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and the House are proposing is limiting Cha-cha to the basic law’s economic provisions that restrict foreign investor participation in businesses in the country,” he said.
Rodriguez said the proposal calls for just adding the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” to those provisions so that Congress would have the power to alter the restrictions when the economic situation warrants.