Senate Cha-cha proponents: No political changes

MANILA, Philippines — Joining the fray to have the Charter changed, several senators have vowed to focus on its economic provisions and to steer clear of politics to ensure their initiative will have better chances of getting approved.

Sen. Sonny Angara, who chairs the Senate finance committee, joined Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri in signing the Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 that seeks to open up public utilities, advertising and educational institutions to foreign ownership by allowing legislation to ease the prohibitive economic provisions.

In a dzRH interview yesterday, Angara said Charter change has better chances of passing the Senate if it focuses on economic amendments.

“It is better to talk about Charter change at the start of the administration and limit it to public services, educational institutions and advertising as among the industries to be liberalized to draw more investment opportunities,” Angara said in Filipino.

He said the Senate would not allow people’s initiative proponents to prevent the Senate from participating properly in Charter change discussions through constituent assembly or con-ass, by making sure the two chambers of Congress vote separately and not as one, as is being pushed in the Lower House.

Joint voting through con-ass would allow the 315-member House of Representatives to overrule the Senate in the required three-fourths majority vote.

The Senate will push for separate voting under con-ass to protect the bicameral nature of legislation in the country, Angara said.

“The scope of legislation is wide, but we have to be clear here in limiting the debate to economic provisions, and not on politics,” he added, referring to extending the term limits of elected officials and even the proposed tandem voting for president and vice president.

Imee: PI dead on arrival

For her part, Sen. Imee Marcos declared the people’s initiative “dead on arrival” for being “very divisive.”

The presidential sister said while she supported Charter change through legislation to kill the people’s initiative, she feared that amending the economic provisions would embolden lawmakers to also tinker with the political provisions, particularly on term limits.

“Con-ass is a slippery slope, because it will allow discussions on political amendments. But I am still happy that People’s Initiative is dead. Congratulations to Senate President Zubiri for successfully negotiating to end an allegedly corrupt PI,” Marcos said in an interview with reporters yesterday.

Sen. Robinhood Padilla, who chairs the Senate constitutional amendments committee, lauded the Senate move to initiate Charter change, but lamented that his previous committee report on economic Charter change did not gain traction in the upper chamber.

“This is good news for the nation. Our economy will be revitalized and this will lead to progress in the lives of Filipinos,” Padilla said yesterday.

Foreign domination

Minority lawmakers and some sectors, meanwhile, have expressed opposition to the latest move to make changes in the Constitution.

Revising the 1987 Constitution, whether through constituent assembly as espoused by the Senate or through people’s initiative being pushed by the House of Representatives, would be detrimental to the country’s national patrimony.

“The victim will be the nation’s patrimony when sensitive enterprises like public service, education, media and advertisement will be open to alien control and domination,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, president of the opposition Liberal Party, warned.

He expressed belief that discussions on Charter change between the Senate and the House “will end in a compromise by opening wide the economy to alien investments.”

“The Charter change initiatives will divide and obfuscate the people and divert the efforts of the political departments from the real problems not attributable to the Constitution,” Lagman stressed, describing the moves as “out of step.”

“The President and Congress must address the crippling crises in the economy, agriculture, food security, education, fiscal deficit, debt burden and China’s continuing aggression in the West Philippine Sea,” he pointed out.

The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) has also voiced opposition to relaxing foreign ownership of public services, especially education.

In a statement, ACT chairman Vladimer Quetua said the Charter change drive “is a major threat to our national interests as proponents wish to remove what little safeguards the 1987 Constitution has against foreign plunder of our resources and control of the economy, public utilities, education and culture.”

“Foreign ownership of schools, which the Cha-cha seeks to allow, is sure to deepen further the colonial character of our education. It runs counter to our objective of strengthening the teaching of patriotism among our youth and making education serve nationalist development,” he added.

ACT also warned that Charter change is a way for Marcos and his family to keep themselves in power.

“It is a very cruel nightmare for the people to extend the rule of the Marcoses in the country. We have suffered enough in the almost two years that Marcos has been in office. We will not allow their ambition to extend their term for their gain,” Quetua added.

Misplaced priorities

Labor groups said what Congress should prioritize is ensuring the implementation of provisions of the present Constitution.

“The problem lies not in the Constitution’s wording, but in its elite-driven enforcement,” Nagkaisa Labor Coalition said in a statement.

The Partido ng Manggagawa said Zubiri should prioritize the enactment of the legislated P150 wage increase instead of leading the chamber toward Charter change.

Meanwhile, Cadiz City Mayor Salvador Escalante Jr. has confirmed granting the request of a private group to launch a signature campaign for Charter change in his jurisdiction.

He claimed there was no money involved in the signature campaign in the Negros Occidental city, which started last week.

Escalante also said he and Rep. Alfredo Marañon III have no problem with the campaign under the People’s Initiative as long as it would cover only the “economic provisions” of the Constitution.

“We will not be at a loss if we amend the economic provisions of our Constitution,” he said.

He added he has advised barangay captains and their constituents in Cadiz City to make sure they are well informed of issues before joining any signature drive. “It is still a people’s initiative and not a plebiscite yet,” Escalante stressed.

Negros Occidental Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson has distanced himself from the signature campaign, saying he would rather “wait for the plebiscite and I cast my vote.” – Neil Jayson Servallos, Mayen Jaymalin, Gilbert Bayoran, Delon Porcalla