House Cha-cha hearings not about term extension, political amendments —Garbin

House committee on constitutional amendments chairperson Alfredo Garbin Jr. on Thursday assured the public that the hearings on Charter change (Cha-cha) will not be about amendments on political provisions like term extension for lawmakers.

In a Dobol B sa News TV interview, Garbin said the Cha-cha hearings of the House, tentatively scheduled to start next week, will focus solely on the "restrictive" economic provisions in the Constitution as stated in Resolution of Both Houses No. 2 authored no less than by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.

"Talaga ho, kasi kayo rin ang boboto sa plebisito. Ang taumbayan ang tunay na nagmamay-ari ng ating Saligang Batas," Garbin said when asked to assure that the House would not push for political amendments such as term extension.

"Iwasan natin 'yung mga pagdududa na this is all about term extension," he added.

Garbin, along with other House leaders including Velasco, met on Wednesday to discuss the proposed constitutional amendments.

He said it was Velasco himself who ordered to look into proposals to amend "restrictive" economic provisions in the constitution.

Asked why the House would reopen Cha-cha talks amid the ongoing pandemic, Garbin said they are aiming to make these economic provisions less rigid so that foreign direct investments could come in to help alleviate the impact of the health crisis to the country's economy.

"The Speaker's proposal is to make [them] flexible so that it would be responsive to the needs of time," he said.

"This is one way of addressing the effects of the pandemic by opening up the entry of foreign direct investment, foreign capital dahil bagsak na bagsak ang ating ekonomiya and we are lagging behind pagdating sa mga FDIs (foreign direct investments) and inflows of foreign capital," 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 inserts the same phrase to the provision allowing the State to undertake exploration, development, and utilization activities on the country's natural resources.

"Ours is a 33-year-old Constitution. And when the framers of the Constitution crafted it in 1987 and was adopted by the Filipino people 33 years ago, hindi naman natin na-foresee na aabot tayo sa ganito na kailangan natin i-open up 'yung ating ekonomiya so we can invite the flow of foreign direct investment," Garbin said.

"That's the reason why we're trying to open up the economy by lifting very restrictive economic provisions in order to invite the inflows of foreign direct investment," he added.

The hearing of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments to discuss proposed changes in the "restrictive" economic provisions in the Constitution is tentatively set for Wednesday, January 13.—AOL, GMA News