Amid weakening economic sentiment, fueled by corruption issues, a political economist has floated the prospect of constitutional reform to end protectionist clauses that heavily favor Filipino ownership and goods.

Calixto Chikiamco, president of think tank Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF), said the supposed flaws in the 1987 Constitution are the root cause of the “weak economy” seen today.

“I think that our whole constitution should change because it’s very protectionist. It's very statist. So that’s the whole problem of our constitution,” he said during the Stratbase Group’s Pilipinas Conference.

Chikiamco said Filipino-first and Filipino-only provisions, enshrined in the Constitution to boost domestic industries, have only led to the dominance of monopolies.

While restrictions on certain sectors have been eased over the years, the main tenet of the 60-40 rule remains ingrained in the country’s legal framework. That is, foreign entities may own up to 40 percent of the equity.

To help protect local industries from the potential influx of foreign firms, Chikiamco noted that the government must also introduce reforms to make them globally competitive.

“That means we need to reduce the price of food so that labor costs won't be so high,” the economist said.

He added that the government could further shield local industries by leveraging the exchange rate “because it’s more expensive to import stuff if your exchange rate is weak.”

Complementing this, he said tariffs imposed on the imports of certain agricultural commodities such as rice and corn should be liberalized through reduction in tariffs.

In relation to this, Chikiamco said a constitutional reform could also help address one of the biggest drags on the economy—corruption.

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to four percent in the third quarter, at a time when corruption issues in the public work sector have brought government spending to a halt.

With the ongoing investigations, public spending plummeted as many planned infrastructure projects were put on hold.

Chikiamco said putting those accountable behind bars will not end corruption as the “incentive to keep on stealing money” continue to thrive due to flaws in the Constitution.

“We don't have a strong political party system. Our politicians flip parties at the drop of a hat,” he said.

“So what we probably need would be a strong political party system with state financing for political parties, so they are not incentivized to steal,” he added.

Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Chairman George Barcelon said he is not against changing the Constitution to breathe new life to the economy, but he said today is not yet the ripe time for such.

“Now if you open up the Pandora’s box on constitutional change at this time, we can’t say the vested interests of politicians, will take advantage of it,” said Barcelon in a chance interview.

“They will try to navigate and see how they can manipulate to their advantage,” he stressed.

Makati Business Club (MBC) Chairman Edgardo Chua echoed this view, arguing that politicians could use the reform as a vehicle to continue upholding their interests.

Allaying these concerns, Chikiamco said the government could take the constitutional convention (con-con) route, instead of the constitutional assembly (con-ass), where amendments are approved upon a vote of three-fourths of all members of Congress.

Con-con involves the election of delegates who propose changes, with a majority vote needed to adopt the amendments they put forward.

“Because there's no trust in Congress anymore, it should not be in terms of [con-ass] or some other thing, but through a [con-con],” Chikiamco said.

Ideally, he said the con-ass could take place in 2028, with up to two years granted to the convention to come up with a new constitution.

“If we don't change the constitution…the problem will keep repeating itself. We cannot rely on morality to solve our problems,” he said.