Sotto says Philippines needs character change, not Charter change

Vice presidential aspirant and Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Friday said the Philippines needs character change and not charter change (Cha-Cha).

“Ang kailangan ng bansa ‘di charter change, ang kailangan  -- character change,” Sotto said in an interview on Super Radyo dzBB’s Ikaw Na Ba: The Vice Presidential Interviews segment.

(What the country needs is character change not charter change.)

Sotto said he initially supported the amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

“Nung una, ako ay pabor doon sa galawin ang economic provisions, in other words, amendments lang hindi Cha-Cha,”

(At first, I supported the amendments to the economic provisions. This could not be considered as Cha-Cha.)

However, the Senate chief said the Congress was able to pass several that will further open the economy.

These legislations include the Public Service Act, Foreign Investment Act, amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Act, among others.

“Bukas na ang economic provisions, ‘di na kailangan galawin ang Constitution. Pag-aralan nilang mabuti itong mga pinasa natin,” he added.

(The economic provisions in the Constitution are already open. We don't need to change the Constitution. They should just study these legislations.)

In May, lawmakers from the House of Representatives passed Resolution of Both Houses No. 2, which seeks to amend what its authors called "restrictive" economic provisions in the 1987 Constitution.

This, however, was not acted upon by the Senate, as some senators believe that the said restrictions in the Constitution can be addressed by some legislation. —NB, GMA News