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‘Charter change is a desperate attempt to hold on to power, silence critics’
By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
MANILA – Progressives said that the recent moves to amend the Philippine Constitution are “but a desperate attempt of President Rodrigo Duterte to hold on to power and silence critics.”
In a statement, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro said she will not be surprised if fellow lawmakers will bring up the removal of term limits in the present charter, among other “self-serving interests.”
This is not the first time under the Duterte administration that lawmakers moved to amend the 1987 Philippine Constitution, which has been hailed as a product of the anti-dictatorship movement and contains safeguards against the rise of another tyrant.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 13) Some lawmakers and economists agreed in a House hearing that it is high time for a legislative measure to lift the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution, but for others, the country is just not ready for another Cha-cha in the middle of the pandemic.
During the first day of deliberations of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments on Resolution of Both Houses 2, congressmen and resource persons were split over its aim to ease limits on foreign ownership of lands, educational institutions, public utilities, and mass media firms.
The measure filed by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco includes the phrase unless otherwise provided by the law to certain provisions on national patrimony and economy, education, science and technology, arts, culture and sports, and general provisions of the charter.
Marikina City Rep. Stella Quimbo justified on Wednesday the need to amend the Constitutional prohibition on land ownership by foreigners, which is a touchy subject for a lot of Filipinos.
Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo (Photo credit: https://www.bdo.com.ph/)
"With respect to the prohibition on land o
(UPDATED) Constitutional law professor Tony La Viña says the entire House and the Senate – not just one committee – can convene into a Constituent Assembly