Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman (Screenshot from YouTube live)

Liberal Party (LP) President and Albay 1st district Rep. Edcel Lagman has reiterated his stance against the House of Representatives’ renewed interest in Charter change (Cha-cha). 

Lagman, who has long been vocal against measures that seek to amend the 1987 Constitution, stressed his uncompromising position over proposals for elected officials' term extensions. 

“The extension of term limits of executive and legislative elected officials must never be an agenda of charter change as this issue has been popularly rejected time and again in surveys as it is not justified and derogates the people’s fixed and regular exercise of electoral mandate,” he said in a statement. 

Last week, House Senior Deputy Speaker Pampanga 3rd district Rep. Aurelio "Dong" Gonzales Jr. expressed his intention to include term extensions in the proposed amendments to the Charter. 

Gonzales specifically suggested a term limit of five years for elected officials with a maximum of two terms. 

This came after House Speaker Martin Romualdez said the lower chamber will revisit Cha-cha next year, with a focus on tweaking restrictive economic provisions. 

Lagman, a veteran lawmaker, said that any economic proposal shouldn't be made at the expense of Filipino businessmen. 

“We must not compromise or forfeit the Filipino’s patrimony by liberalizing the foreign equity and ownership of sensitive corporations and enterprises at the expense of Filipino controlling capital and management,” he said.

Lagman was referring to the House leadership's aim of making the Constitution more friendly toward foreign investors. 

He further said that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)---a group that sets international standards—does not include the “amendment of nationalistic constitutional provisions as an imperative inducement for the entry of foreign direct investments". 

Lagman cited the following major determinants for foreign investment, as listed by the OECD: ease of doing business; elimination or significant reduction of official corruption; predictability of government policies; adequate and enabling infrastructure; faster and reliable internet speed; and cheaper cost of power.