Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez will be Senator Robin Padilla's special guest when the Senate begins its own discussions on the bid for Charter change (Cha-cha) this coming Monday, March 20. This was bared by Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, in a statement sent to House reporters Wednesday, March 15. “I will attend it. I will explain to senators and the public that our intention in our Charter change initiative, as repeatedly stated by Speaker Martin Romualdez, is to rewrite the economic provisions so the country could attract more foreign investments,” he said. “That is our only objective. We do not want the other parts of the Constitution to be touched,” Rodriguez added. He said the present “restrictive economic provisions have been, to quote Fitch Solutions, ‘historically a challenge for foreign investors". Padilla, the Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Reivision of Laws chairman, is Rodriguez's counterpart in the upper chamber. The House of Representatives approved on third and final reading Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No.6, as amended, last March 6. The measure calls for the creation of a constitutional convention (con-con), which would be tasked to propose amendments to the 1987 Constitution. Based on the invitation sent by Padilla’s committee to Rodriguez, RBH No.6 is the only item in the agenda of Padilla’s hearing. House Bill (HB) No.7352, the accompanying bill of RBH No.6, was passed on third and final reading Tuesday night, March 14. It's not yet listed on the Padilla panel's agenda, although then House had committed to transmit the measure to the Senate immediately. “In the bill, we are giving the constitutional convention seven months to finish its job. The deadline is the best proof that we want this effort to be limited to the economic provisions. Rewriting the other parts of the Charter would entail a longer, perhaps an open-ended period,” Rodriguez said. He pointed out that the seven-month deadline is enough for the would-be 314 con-con delegates to rewrite the economic provisions. “If they could do it in three months to five months, the better for the country, the less expense the convention would require,” he added. Under HB No. 7352, the con-con delegates would receive no salary but would be entitled to a P10,000 allowance for every day of attendance to the assembly or any of its committees.