House sets economic Cha-cha next month

MANILA, Philippines – The House of Representatives will try to approve the economic Charter change (Cha-cha) resolution before Congress ends its second regular session on June 11.

“We will be able to approve it on second reading in June,” Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., principal author of Resolution of Both Houses No. 1, told reporters yesterday. He cautioned, however, that the third and final-reading approval would be a different matter altogether.

Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, meanwhile, reiterated his call for the government to shift to a federal parliamentary system by changing the Charter through a Constitutional Convention (Con-con).

Duterte, on the second month of his “Listening Tour” as he advocates federalism all over the country, said a federal system of government will free vibrant investment areas from the stranglehold of stringent regulations imposed by a highly centralized government.

Belmonte does not see any problem in the approval of economic Cha-cha as a second reading only requires a voice vote from those present.

He expects greater challenges on third reading though, as this requires about 200 votes.

“Third reading would require two-thirds of the chamber to approve it or around 200 members. Really, we’d have to make a big effort to see to it that people will attend the session,” Belmonte said.

If both the House and the Senate approve the resolution this year, the plebiscite for the amendment to the Constitution could be piggybacked on the May 9, 2016 synchronized national and local elections to save funds.

“The plebiscite is the crucial thing for economic Cha-cha,” Belmonte said, pointing out that the resolution merely seeks to empower Congress to lift constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership of businesses, properties and land by inserting the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” in the provisions containing those restrictions.

Belmonte explained that the limitations would remain, but Congress will be given the power to lift or relax them in the future.

He added that the process would involve both the legislators and the President, who has the power to approve or veto any relaxation bill passed by Congress.

Belmonte believes that relaxing foreign restrictions in the current Constitution could entice foreigners to invest in the country and for current investors to expand their businesses here.

The Constitution allows foreign ownership to as much as 40 percent but limited some sectors, like the media, for 100-percent Filipino ownership.

The House was scheduled last night to end plenary debates on the economic Cha-cha resolution as the Speaker’s co-authors, including Reps. Mylene Albano Garcia of Davao City, who chairs the constitutional amendments committee, Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro City and Rodel Batocabe of party-list group Ako Bicol, took turns defending the measure and answering their colleagues’ questions.

Many of those with reservations on the Cha-cha measure belong to the minority.

If passed by the House and the Senate and approved by voters in a plebiscite, Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 would be the first amendment to the present Constitution.

The Charter was written in 1986 by a commission put together by the late President Corazon Aquino with the electorate approving it in a plebiscite the following year.

President Aquino frowns upon proposed changes in the Charter written and approved during his mother’s watch but has not stopped his House allies from pushing for economic Cha-cha.

In pushing the federal system, Duterte reiterated that the federal parliamentary system will follow the American model and that the President, as head, will be directly elected by the people.

He also said that delegates to the Con-con will need to be elected by the people. – With Edith Regalado