MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino has remained firm in his stand against introducing amendments to the 1987 Constitution but nevertheless expressed willingness to listen to the wisdom of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.
“I would want to listen to their point also. It would be good to also hear their view since we have to listen to differing ideas to come up with what’s best for our people,” he told Palace reporters in a chance interview at the SMX Convention Center in SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.
The Chief Executive said he has not discussed the issue yet with the two congressional leaders, who manifested their intention to push for economic amendments to the fundamental law of the land that partly negated economic growth.
But Aquino maintained that economic stability can still be achieved – like what the government did in the first quarter by reaching a 6.4 percent GDP growth amid the global crisis – even without the Constitution being amended.
“I’ve been hearing that ‘proposal’ for a long time. But I don’t know if that is correct. There‘s an American saying, ‘don’t fix what ain’t broke’,” he pointed out.
“Changing the Constitution will only change the rules of the game, and this might just delay the process. Once you open it for amendments, you cannot limit it only to economic provisions,” he argued.
According to deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte, amending the economic provisions of the fundamental law of the land, for purposes of lifting the 60-40 requirement prohibiting foreigners from acquiring lands and firms, is no longer needed since investor confidence is currently on the upswing.
“We have, thus far, been able to work within what we have now. We have been able to implement the reforms that are needed without the benefit of constitutional amendment,” Valte noted, in response to Belmonte’s proposal for a constituent assembly.
As for Aquino’s term, Valte said that the President has no intention of extending his term beyond 2016.
“We have discussed this, I think, two weeks ago and we have definitively said that the President is very aware of the term that he has – six years – no more, no less.”
Valte also added that they don’t have to talk to either Belmonte or Enrile since both are “leaders of an independent branch of government.”
“We can make our position known and it will be up to them on how they will receive that position.”
She also clarified that there are no proposals even in the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council.
“We do not know if it will be coming from the House or from the Senate. But there is no agenda yet,” she said, noting that senators, congressmen, members of the Cabinet and Aquino have yet to meet and discuss the matter.
Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, chair of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, revisions of codes and laws, also pointed out that Congress would be busy with the deliberations on the proposed 2013 national budget from August to December.
She added that 2013 is also an election year so the legislators running for reelection would be busy preparing for their respective campaigns and so amending the Constitution would be the last thing on their minds.
“You just have no time. You cannot push the Cha-cha (Charter change) initiative in a manner that will go around the need for full-bodied consideration. It’s not an ordinary law. It is the Constitution of the Philippines. The earliest that it can be taken up by both chambers of Congress will be after May 2013,” Santiago explained.
Although Santiago is personally not in favor of amending the Constitution, she would hold hearings if ever a bill is filed for this purpose by a member of Congress.
“If there is a (proposed) amendment, then we will have to conduct a public hearing. I will call everybody with an interest in the subject, particularly the young people in our universities because it is they who would have to live with the consequences of any of these amendments particularly the amendment to do away with the 60-40 percent requirement in ownership,” Santiago said.
Belmonte said yesterday that Congress would try to find time to work on proposed amendments to the Constitution while at the same time enacting other priority reform and socio-economic measures.
Belmonte also reiterated that he prefers that only the economic provisions of the Constitution would be reformed, with Congress asking the final approval of the people through a plebiscite.
“What I’d like to do before we convene is to get together the leaders of Congress, including the opposition, and we discuss how to do it and realistically try to see if we have the space to do it, considering that there are a number of important bills and this is the last session of the 15th Congress, and how much time we actually have for the period so that we can be very realistic about this,” Belmonte told reporters.
“We have two weeks to go (before President Aquino’s State of the Nation Address) and I see that we will be meeting to put together an agenda that is realizable,” he said.
He added leaders of the Senate and the House of Representatives would also try to find out from the President what he wants lawmakers to prioritize in the third and final session of Congress.
Belmonte said the House leadership will also “put together a program that is ambitious but realizable.”
He gave assurance that other equally important bills would be acted upon by the House even if constitutional reform remains an important issue.
“It’s not a priority of this over that. What we want is, if we could do them (bills and Charter change) altogether, that is what I would like to discuss with the leaders of Congress, not only of majority but with minority, this is in the national interest,” Belmonte said. With Paolo Romero, Marvin Sy, Rhodina Villanueva