‘Cha-cha’ could lead to bigger problems — legal experts

THE PUSH to change the 1987 Constitution is a lethal experiment that could plunge the Philippines into deeper problems, constitutional experts told the Senate on Monday.

“Amendments or revisions to the Constitution at this time would be a lethal experiment, a fatal hit, a plunge to death, a Cha-cha dance to the grave or to hell,” Hilario G. Davide, Jr., a former chief justice and one of the framers of the Constitution, told senators.

Congress should focus on cutting red tape and corruption instead of seeking to ease foreign ownership restrictions in the 1987 Charter, he said.

“It is my firm and unchangeable stand that there are no valid scenarios and compelling reasons to amend our 1987 Constitution,” the legal expert said.

“What our country and our people need today are not amendments to provisions of the Constitution but the full implementation of its principles and state policies,” he added.

Lawmakers should instead craft measures to boost the quality of education and address the lack of early childhood care, former Election Chairman and constitutional framer Christian S. Monsod told the same hearing.

Filipino students ranked 77th out of 81 countries in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment, performing worse than the global average in all categories. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development conducts the global assessment yearly.

Mr. Monsod also said the advertising industry, which has largely gone digital, would not benefit from increased foreign capital. The sector is limited to Filipinos.

But former Supreme Court Justice Adolfo S. Azcuna said ownership restrictions on education, public utilities and advertising should not be in the Constitution but should be enforced through regular laws.

“Economic policies should be flexible to meet changing times in the economy,” he told senators. “Other countries that have restrictive economic provisions don’t have them in their Constitutions but in their ordinary laws that can be easily changed.”

Albay Rep. Jose Ma. Clemente S. Salceda earlier said the Senate proposal to open these industries to foreigners would unlock 3.1% in economic output, which he said was not enough.

“Undertaking the amendments would open up the country to higher incomes and better employment for our workers, and greater pride in relation to our neighbors,” former National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Gerardo P. Sicat said at the hearing.

Jose Enrique A. Africa, Ibon Foundation executive director, told senators the government should focus on developing local industries because foreign companies would probably focus on short-term instead of long-term profit.

Also on Monday, Senator Robinhood Ferdinand “Robin” C. Padilla, who heads the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, filed a resolution calling on both chambers of Congress to vote separately on Charter change (“Cha-cha”).

The Constitution provides that changes may be proposed through a three-fourths vote of congressional members. There is a debate whether the Senate and House of Representatives should vote separately or as one chamber.

Mr. Padilla said the framers of the 1987 Constitution intended for the Senate and House to vote separate on Charter change, consistent with the country’s bicameral Legislature.

Philippine senators earlier opposed a proposal for Congress to vote jointly, which they said would dilute the Senate’s vote on constitutional amendments.