House eyes resumption of cha-cha deliberations next week

The House of Representatives is planning to resume its deliberations on charter change (cha-cha) next week, Ako Bicol party-list Representative Alfredo Garbin Jr. said Wednesday.

Garbin, who was recently elected as chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, shared photos on his Facebook page of his meeting with Speaker Lord Allan Velasco and other House leaders with the caption: "Gearing up for Consti Amendments."

Asked if initiatives to convene the Senate and the House into a constituent assembly will be approved by the senators, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said: "Touch and go.  I really can't tell. We need majority vote to approve the reso and convene but you need 3/4 vote to approve Consti amendments."

Senators Ronald Dela Rosa and Francis Tolentino both have pending resolutions for the convening of a constituent assembly.

In a phone interview with GMA News Online, Garbin said it was Velasco himself who ordered to look into proposals to amend "restrictive" economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution.

These proposals, he added, are included in Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 2, which Velasco himself authored.

"The directive of the Speaker is to look into those proposals that call for amending the restrictive economic provisions," he said.

"I've scheduled a committee hearing on Wednesday next week for the Committee on Constitutional Amendments specifically the resolution of the Speaker...,. Yan yung tentative na hearing which will be on Wednesday," he added.

RBH No. 2 proposes that the phrase "unless otherwise provided by law" be included in the provision that reserves certain areas of investments to citizens of the Philippines or to corporations at least 60% of whose capital are owned by Filipinos.

The same phrase is also added in the provisions which limit ownership of educational institutions and mass media to Filipinos.

The measure also introduces the same phrase to the provision allowing the State to undertake exploration, development and utilization activities on the country's natural resources.

RBH No. 2 prescribes a constituent assembly to propose amendments to the Constitution, which requires a vote of three-fourths of all the members of Congress, each house voting separately.

Nevertheless, Garbin said the hearings on the proposed amendments to the Constitution would focus only on the restrictive economic provisions.

He pointed out that other proposed constitutional amendments, such as term extension and the removal of term limits, are not included in Velasco's bill.

"That's only confined to the resolution of the Speaker which is focused on economic provisions," Garbin said.

"The resolution does not speak of any political provisions, term limits or term extensions. Only confined to economic provisions," he added.

Back in July 2020, the League of Municipalities of the Philippines proposed a number of reforms in the 1987 Constitution supposedly aimed at empowering local government units, including institutionalizing the Mandanas Ruling of the Supreme Court and lifting restrictions on foreign investment in industries that are presently limited to Filipinos.

Then House constitutional panel chair Rufus Rodriguez initially said that the panel would convene around two weeks after President Rodrigo Duterte's fifth State of the Nation Address to discuss the proposed reforms of the LMP.

He, however, later said that no panel hearings on cha-cha issues would be held this year so that the House could focus on discussing COVID-19 response measures as well as the 2021 national budget. —LDF, GMA News