By Billy Begas
The chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments on Sunday accused two business groups of flip-flopping on the issue of changing the economic provisions of the Constitution.
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the Makati Business Club (MBC) and Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex) even sent their position on his committee supporting the changing of the Constitution.
“MBC and Finex are now against Charter amendments. Before this position, they were in favor of changing the Constitution’s economic provisions,” Rodriguez said.
In a joint statement on Friday, MBC, Finex, Filipina CEO Circle, Judicial Reform Initiative, Philippine Women’s Economic Network, and Women Business Council of the Philippines opposed the current House initiative to rewrite the Constitution’s economic provisions.
They cited the high cost of funding a constitutional convention that would propose the amendments, the investment promotion campaign of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and recently enacted laws that aim to relax certain economic restrictions.
While the President’s efforts to attract foreign capital and the laws approved by Congress are commendable, Rodriguez said it is “still subject to the limitations of the Constitution.”
“These laws cannot amend the Charter. As for the cost involved, we are trying to keep them to the minimum,” he added.
In a position paper dated Sept. 11, 2019, Rodriguez said the MBC said it was reiterating its “long-running support” to lift investment restrictions in the Constitution.
“Among other means, we support adding the words ‘unless otherwise provided by law,’ following the constitutional provisions that set the limits on various sectors. In a competitive global economy, we believe in lower barriers to trade and investment in general. In a dynamic global economy, we believe any barriers should be subject to modification by the President and Congress, better than being fixed in the Constitution,” the MBC said according to Rodriguez.
The MBC also said that “further economic liberalization will bring in new players and technology, who will boost competition on price and quality, benefiting Filipino consumers,” according to Rodriguez.
Finex, in a letter to the committee last Feb. 17, said it agreed with House members on the need to amend the Charters economic provisions, “which have resulted in the most restrictive economic environment among our peer countries and have impeded foreign investments.”
“We note that in almost all countries in the world, restrictions on foreign investments are not contained in their Constitutions. Instead, restrictions on foreign trade and investments are done through legislation or administrative orders that can be changed to suit shifting national priorities,” the letter read.
Rodriguez also cited the January 22, 2021 joint statement of several business organizations, including MBC, Finex, Filipina CEO Circle, Management Association of the Philippines, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Judicial Reform Initiative, supporting the “relaxation of restrictive economic provisions in our Constitution and commit to initiate steps for the adoption of such provisions within the first 12 months of their term.”
