House official: Congress can finish Cha-cha 'this year'
House Deputy Speaker Rufus Rodriguez on Thursday, March 18 expressed confidence that both chambers of Congress will be able to finish discussions on the proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution with this year.
"Since we will have a break next week on March 25, the deliberations will be continued when we resume sessions on May 17. Speaker Lord Allan Velasco is affording the opportunity to all Members to participate in the deliberations”, Rodriguez, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District representative, said in a statement March 18.
He said the Senate "will have enough time" to take up the so-called "economic" Charter change (Cha-cha) when the House of Representatives sends its proposals under the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 2.
He added that "several" senators support the measure.
"That is why I am confident that the Senate will tackle our amendment proposals once transmitted to them and will eventually consider approving them,” said the congressman, who formerly chaired the House constitutional amendments committee.
RBH No. 2 proposes to allow lawmakers to change the constitutional limitations on foreign ownership in certain sectors of the economy like telecommunications, public utilities, media, advertising, and education.
“The changing of those restrictions will hasten the country’s recovery from this crippling pandemic. It will help attract more foreign investments and provide more employment to our people," Rodriguez said, echoing assurances that the House will propose only economic amendments.
"In fact, our plenary discussions for the past three weeks now have been limited to RBH-2. No one among the 300 members of the House has suggested any political amendment," he continued.
He also reiterated that the House and the Senate will vote separately on the proposed Cha-cha. Similar measures have also been filed in the Senate by Senators Sherwin Gatchalian, Francis Tolentino and Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa. Some senators, however, were still not convinced about its necessity, saying Congress could just work on passing legislation that would directly address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.