There's a need to quantify in hard numbers the cost and benefit of the proposed economic Charter change (Cha-cha) in the House of Representatives.

Thus, said House Minority Leader and 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan on Sunday, Feb. 26, as he called on the government’s budget and economic planners to perform a “cost-benefit analysis” of amending the 1987 Constitution for the purpose of relaxing its foreign investment restrictions.

“If we really want to tweak the economic provisions of the Constitution to draw in more foreign investors, then we would need a baseline comparison of cost and benefit,” Libanan said in a statement.

“This is the most sensible approach – for us to ascertain whether the benefits outweigh the costs,” he pointed out.

Libanan called on the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to submit to Congress a detailed report on the projected benefits in terms of foreign direct investments (FDIs) that would come in per industry, the number of new jobs that would be created, and the incremental tax revenues that would be generated.

On the cost side, the House leader urged the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to come up with reliable estimates.

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Last week, the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments approved a resolution calling for the formation of a constitutional convention (con-con) to amend the 36-year-old Charter, which has been described as very restrictive when it comes to its economic provisions.

Cha-cha proponents in the House have said that lifting these restrictions would pave the way for the Philippines to gain more FDIs, which would in turn translate to more jobs for Filipinos.