‘Cha-cha will allow GDP growth to exceed 8%’

THE National Economic and Development Authority (Neda) said the Philippines’s GDP growth can exceed 8 percent by 2028 if the proposed Charter change (Chacha) pushes through.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio M. Balisacan made the pronouncement more than a week after Pulse Asia released the results of its survey which showed that more than 70 percent of its respondents opposed Cha-cha.

Balisacan also said the revised targets of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC), which was approved by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. last Wednesday, did not yet include the impact of the amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution on growth.

“If we can get those amendments that we would want in the Constitution, particularly in the public services--education, I think we could achieve even more, we can get additional sources of growth,” he told reporters in a press briefing in Malacañang last Thursday.

Congress, with the support of the President, is pushing for the amendment to the economic provisions in the Constitution to remove restrictions on foreign ownership.

Last month, the House of Representatives (HOR) approved on third and final reading its proposed Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 7. The Senate has yet to pass its own version of the resolution.

Balisacan, however, noted that even if Cha-cha is implemented soon, its expected impact in attracting foreign investments in crucial sectors like power generation will come at the tail end of the Marcos administration.

“It will take time for that to be felt because investment does not come in overnight,” he said.

Aside from Cha-cha, Balisacan said the government can attain its growth targets if interest rates will continue to fall and if the country can take full advantage of its “green metals,” such as copper and nickel, which are used in electric vehicles. He said the success of the government’s mass housing initiatives will also boost growth.

He cited other factors that will make the growth targets attainable, including the participation of the private sector investments in delivering public infrastructure and services and the full implementation of economic liberalization, investment-related and business-friendly reforms and initiatives, such as the recently enacted Public-private Partnership Code.

Balisacan said the Marcos administration is maintaining its infrastructure spending target at 5 percent to 6 percent of GDP until 2028. The government is currently implementing the “Build Better More” program.

“There are many drivers [of economic growth] that we can build upon,” he said.

‘Stay the course’

DESPITE the results of a Pulse Asia survey indicating a lack of support from Filipinos, proponents of amendments to the 1987 Charter in both the House of Representatives and the Senate should persist with their pursuit, as the “right decisions are not always popular.”

House Committee on Constitutional Amendments Chairman Rufus Rodriguez, one of the proponents, said the national leadership, led by the President believes in the potential benefits of altering the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution.

“The national leadership, beginning with President Marcos believes that changing the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution would benefit the country as it would result in more foreign investments coming in,” Rodriguez said.

According to Rodriguez, this sentiment is echoed by various sectors, including the business community, government officials, economists, and experts, who have testified in recent House hearings.

He said the dominant view expressed by the resource persons during the hearings favored the changing of foreign equity and ownership restrictions in public utilities, education, and advertising.

Rodriguez urged President Marcos and the leaders of Congress “to stay the course.”

“The right decisions are not always popular,” he said.

He said reversing course at this point in the pursuit of economic reforms via Cha-cha would “worsen the country’s image” before the investing community.

“It would strengthen their perception of the Philippines as ‘urongsulong’ when it comes to opening up its economy,” he said.

Rodriguez, a key author of RBH No. 7, said the proposed amendments focus solely on economic matters and do not include political amendments, such as term extensions for elected officials.

He attributed potential confusion among the public to the inclusion of questions on political amendments in the recent survey.

The House has already approved RBH No. 7 on its third and final reading and has sent it to the Senate. The Senate version, RBH No. 6, is authored by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senators Loren Legarda and Juan Edgardo Angara.

Rodriguez said that for the first time in 37 years, the two chambers of Congress have come this close to proposing amendments to the Constitution.

“And we are limiting the proposed changes only to three areas. There is no proposal to extend the term of any elective official. There is no political amendment,” he said.

“We are ‘kulelat’ [a laggard] in terms of FDI [foreign direct investments] in Asean,” he added.

He called on the Senate to swiftly approve proposals to amending economic provisions in the Constitution once Congress reconvenes.

“The fate of economic charter reform is in the hands of our senators,” he said.