It takes 2 to Cha cha: Joey Salceda hopes Senate will tackle constitutional amendments soon

By Billy Begas

House Committee on Ways and Means chairperson and Albay Rep. Joey Salceda said the House of Representatives will continue the plenary deliberations on the proposal to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution when session resumes on May 17.

“The House will do its part. That is for certain. But we hope the Senate begins deliberating soon. The timing is efficient, since we could have the plebiscite along with the 2022 elections,” said Salceda, one of the principal sponsors of Resolution of Both Houses no. 2.

Salceda reiterated his assurance that the House leadership will not introduce any political provisions.

“RBH 2 is pure economic reform. We know and understand that any political charter change will be dead on arrival,” Salceda added.

He said that the government should “simply do what already worked for our neighbors” in Southeast Asia to acquire huge economic gain.

Salceda cited the success of Vietnam in overtaking the Philippines three years after changing their Constitution.

“You have to remember, this country began poorer than us, had more conflict that we ever had, was nearly completely bombed, and had to rebuild almost from scratch. And yet, they have leapfrogged us. The simple difference: they opened their economy to the world. We didn’t,” Salceda pointed out.

He said the 1987 Constitution “hardcoded paranoia” has “limited the progress of future generations with the fears of the past.”

Salceda also cited a study from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which outlined top investment barriers. Three of those barriers, Salceda said, are present in the Philippines because of the economic restrictions in the Constitution.

These barriers are “foreign ownership restrictions in the law, stipulations on management, such as regulations that nationals or residents must form a majority of the board of directors, and nationality-based restrictions on operations.”

“We have the most doors closed of any ASEAN country. And we expect visitors to come. This makes no economic or logical sense,” Salceda noted. “We need investments to come. So, what makes sense is to open the doors that we can.”

Source: Latest Politics News Today (Politics.com.ph)