LANAO del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto-Adiong yesterday urged the 20th Congress to revive moves to amend the 1987 Constitution after the Senate allowed the House-approved resolution to die a natural death by not acting on it in the 19th Congress.
Adiong, one of the supporters of Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez who is vying to retain the post of House speaker, said he would still support moves to amend the “restrictive” economic provisions of the Constitution even if it was shot down by the Senate in the last Congress, because the country needs more foreign investments.
“It’s time that we revisit again the possibilities of dialogue and discussion on possible amendments,” he said. “We have to open up businesses in the country. We have to adapt to trends in the global market.”
Alonto said the country has to relax the economic provisions if the government is serious in attracting new foreign investors and creating more jobs for Filipinos.
Romualdez has yet to announce if still has plans to pursue constitutional amendments in the 20th Congress. He is expected to be elected speaker for the second time when the House opens session on July 28.
The moves to amend the Constitution was used by Vice President Sara Duterte in accusing President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of trying to perpetuate himself and his family in power. She said it t was meant to pave the way for a shift to parliamentary form of government “where the prime minister is not voted by popular choice.”
The House in March last year approved Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7, authored principally by Romualdez, and transmitted it to the Senate which eventually sat on the measure.
Senators and congressmen later engaged in a word war after private proponents launched a “people’s initiative (PI)” campaign to introduce amendments to the 1987 Constitution.
The campaign, which was openly backed by congressmen, sought to diminish the role of the Senate in revising the Constitution, a move which angered senators who blocked the move and even held hearings to investigate allegations that PI proponents paid those who signed forms that were submitted to the Commission on Elections for action.
Marcos subsequently rejected the PI bid and announced that the Senate will take the lead in amending the Charter, prompting then Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri to file Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6, or the economic Cha-cha bill, which remained pending before the sub-committee on constitutional amendments despite the House’s approval of its own version of the measure, RBH No. 7.
Zubiri was later replaced by Sen. Francis Escudero as Senate president. after he was blamed for allowing Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who was then the chair of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Illegal drugs, to investigate allegations that Marcos used illegal drugs when he was a senator way back in 2012.
Escudero has said his position against Charter change (Cha-cha) has not changed because he sees no reason to amend the Constitution because the so-called strict economic provisions being sought to be revised have already been remedied by the 18th Congress.
Both the RBH No. 7 and RBH No. 6 seek to amend what the House leadership describes as the “restrictive” economic provisions of the Constitution and do not propose any political amendment.
RBH No. 7 proposes that the voting be undertaken separately since senators will easily be outnumbered by congressmen if the voting will be done jointly.
