"We in the business community believe our justices will always stand beside the Filipino people," Francis Chua, head of the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FFCCCI), said in a statement. "We believe they have no other interest but the interest of our nation,’’ he added.
He pointed out that the so-called people’s initiative is the fastest, most cost-effective, most democratic and least divisive approach to amend the Constitution.
"We cannot afford to go back to square one and wait endlessly for Congress to agree on convening itself into con-ass (Constituent Assembly) or resort to a time-consuming and expensive con-con (Constitutional Convention),’’ Chua said.
"We cannot afford to waste any time because we are fast being left behind by our more progressive neighbors in the region,’’ Chua said.
Advocates of Charter change, particularly the Sigaw ng Bayan movement, said they have signatures of 6.3 million registered voters who favor people’s initiative as a means to amend the Constitution. The signatures have been verified by the Commission on Elections.
Chua said constant political bickerings under the bicameral presidential setup have hampered the passage of urgent reform measures. He added the Constitution’s inward-looking economic provisions have impaired the country’s capacity to attract investments to levels before the 1997 Asian financial crisis.
"The Philippines can only be a magnet for investments in the same manner that Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia have become, only if it discards the outmoded economic provisions of the Constitution and abandons a conflict-ridden, gridlock-prone political system,’’ Chua said.
"How can we outrun, much less equal, the pace of growth of our Asian neighbors if we have a Constitution that says we cannot allow all foreign investments to come in?’’ he asked.
He said that with a Charter that is not attuned to global realities, the government sometimes has to come out with measures that appear to circumvent the Constitution just to entice more investors in capital-intensive industries like mining and natural gas exploration.
The FFCCCI head cited a report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which said that Asian countries hit by the 1997 financial crisis have sprung back to their pre-crisis growth rates but have yet to restore the investment boom they enjoyed in the past.
IMF said the countries hardest hit by the Asian crisis were Thailand, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and South Korea.
It said the Philippines, in particular, has performed poorly in terms of total factor productivity or TFP, which is a measure of the output of an industry or economy relative to the size of all its primary factor inputs. It factors in any effect on total production not caused by productivity.
Chua said that compared to South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, the Philippines will always lag behind in the investments race because its Constitution is not responsive to global economic developments.