Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte (PPAB)

Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte says he is expecting that the proposed amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution will soon be realized.

This, after Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri ensured that panel deliberations for Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 will be concluded next month.

“Senate President Migz’s commitment for senators to wrap up their panel deliberations on RHB No. 6 in May after our congressional break is welcome news as it has buoyed hopes that the 19th Congress would soon enough set in motion an overhaul of our almost four-decade-old Constitution,” Villafuerte said in a statement on Sunday, April 21.

Villafuerte, president of the National Unity Party (NUP), noted that it is crucial to get rid of the Constitution’s “anachronistic economic provisions that continue to spook investors”.

He said these “outdated” provisions have long barred the Philippines from being an investment magnet despite its fast-growing economy.

“The utter failure of our country to attract the enviable level of FDI (foreign direct investment) inflows enjoyed by our Southeast Asian neighbors that have trailed the Philippines in terms of economic performance,” he noted.

Zubiri recently told reporters that the Senate subcommittee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes—the panel tackling RBH No. 6—will hold three more public hearings in May.

These hearings will be held in the cities of Baguio, Cebu, and Cagayan de Oro to gauge the public’s sentiments on the proposed economic amendments covering the limited foreign ownership in public services, education, and advertising.

After this, the subcommittee will come up with the committee report, which will then be tackled in a plenary session where the fate of its approval will ultimately be decided.

The House of Representatives’ counterpart measure, RBH No. 7, was overwhelmingly approved on the third reading last March 20.

Villafuerte explained that as soon as the Senate passes its Charter change (Cha-cha) measure, it will likely be “smooth sailing” for the passage of the final congressional bill at the bicameral conference committee level—and its subsequent ratification by both the Senate and the House.

The Bicolano lawmaker said senators should see the timeliness of constitutional reform as revealed in the results of a Pulse Asia survey, which showed that a majority of Filipinos were in support of removing the supposed restrictions on foreign investments.

The survey revealed that 64 percent of the 1,200 respondents were in favor of lifting the restrictions, he said.

“Hopefully [this] would impel our senators to greenlight RBH 6 after the Lenten break of the Congress, to let the Philippines keep up with, or even overtake, our neighbors in attracting a far-up level of investments that would turbocharge our economy, create a lot of jobs and ameliorate the living standards of our people,” added Villafuerte.

Congress is set to resume sessions on April 29 after a five-week recess.