ILOILO City – Leyte’s Rep. Richard Gomez believes all sectors will benefit if certain restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution are amended.
Gomez authored House Bill 6805 or “An Act Constituting a Constitutional Convention to Amend the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, Defining the Qualifications for its Delegates Who Shall Be Elected Simultaneously with the Next Barangay Elections, and for other Purposes.”
He, together with the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, was in the city yesterday to conduct a public consultation on the proposed constitutional reforms.
Iloilo 3rd District’s Rep. Lorenz Defensor, senior vice chairman of the said committee, said their focus is on proposals related to the economy and foreign investments.
“All sectors of society, all levels of the working class (can benefit). We must understand na ‘pag pumasok ‘yung foreign direct investments, it is the local government units that would benefit and the people…collected business taxes will be higher,” said Gomez.
He acknowledged the sentiments of those scared to lose their lands to foreign investors but he stressed that in their House Resolution, they are very protective of the land that the Filipinos have.
“We may allow foreign ownerships but we would be very strict kung saan nila pwedeng gamitin. Mahirap kung gagamitin for agricultural purposes because to be able to fully succeed sa agriculture program, we need vast of lands, hundreds of hectares of ownership and that we do not allow,” he emphasized.
But for those foreign direct investors who would like to come in as manufacturers, which need only limited land, they can be allowed to own 10 to 15 hectares only.
Gomez added that it is very important for legislators to do public consultation to hear the sentiments of the people.
Gomez proposed Constitutional Convention (ConCon) as a way of amending the Constitution simply because it will be cheaper to do it this year and it can coincide with the barangay elections.
“Sa balota ng barangay elections isasama natin, isang linya for the constitutional delegates,” he noted.
“Hahabulin natin kasi may timeline ‘yung printing of the ballot for barangay elections. ‘Pag hindi kami natapos, hindi kami masasama sa barangay elections,” he added.
On the other hand, for Defensor it is already high time to amend the Constitution particularly its economic provisions.
“Paglab-ot sa economic provisions sang aton Constitution, siguro tiempo na gid man. Kay kon lantawon may mga provision kita nga naga-limit sang foreign ownership sa public utilities,” he said, citing for instance the country’s transportation system and telecommunications industry.
“Kita ang may pinakalaw-ay nga telecommunications sa bilog nga Southeast Asia. Samtang ang Singapore, Japan and Korea may ginatawag na sila nga bullet train, asta subong ang public transportation naton jeep man kita gyapon,” he added.
Under the current setup, foreign investors are only allowed 40 percent ownership of the public utilities in the country.
“Nahadlok sila sa pag-invest sa bagay nga indi sila ang gapahulag kag gakapot sang ila kwarta kag investment…” Defensor noted.
He said he is in favor of amending the Constitution, citing the data showing that the Philippines has the most restrictive economy in Southeast Asia or smallest foreign investment.
However, Defensor stressed that he is not in favor of the 100 percent ownership of the land.
Meanwhile, he noted that they will focus first on amending certain economic provisions of the Constitution.
“Mabudlay nga buksan sa tawo nga palawigon ang termino sang pulitiko, islan ang sistema sang pang-gobyerno, basi budlay ini ibaligya sa tawo sa subong. Pero ina nga options bukas kon may Constitutional Convention kita because they will be free to amend and revise our entire Constitution,” he added./PN
