The House Committee on Constitutional Amendments assured the public Sunday that its deliberations on Charter change Wednesday will “plainly and exclusively” focus on the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
Philippines House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco renewed a proposal to amend the country’s Constitution by lifting restrictive economic provisions to attract more foreign investments.
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Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, January 8) President Rodrigo Duterte’s wish of amending the Constitution to abolish party-list groups allegedly supportive of the communist movement does not sit well with some lawmakers and political analysts.
Duterte in a November 2020 meeting with lawmakers “suggested” that constitutional provisions on the party-list system be changed, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has disclosed. Duterte believes party-list lawmakers, particularly those from the minority Makabayan bloc, are legal fronts of the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing New People’s Army. The Makabayan bloc has decried this red-tagging.
This allegation should not lead to charter change, Michael Yusingco, legislative and policy consultant, told CNN Philippines. Amending the constitution must come from a thorough and rational discussion of reasons.
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Published January 8, 2021, 5:03 PM
The Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) has expressed support for an initiative to hold hearings on Constitutional Amendments with the objective of amending the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution.
But FEF also equally stressed the need to introduce the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” as called for by House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco’s Joint Resolution No. 2.
FEF, which is chaired by former Finance Secretary Roberto de Ocampo, said the phrase should apply to the Constitution’s paragraph 1, Section 2 of Article XII (National Patrimony and Economy), which provides for the exploitation of natural resources only to corporations whose capital is owned sixty percent by citizens.