Economic Cha-cha not Noy’s priority

President Aquino remains cool to the proposal to lift restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution despite the latest appeal from local business groups and foreign chambers of commerce, Malacañang said yesterday.

“It is not included in the legislative priority list. To the best of my recollection, the President has not been asked about this since he addressed the Japan National Press Club last June and he has maintained his position on this issue,” Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said.

In June, Coloma said the President told a media briefing in Japan that the present joint resolution being worked on by the

Senate and the House of Representatives dealt with economic provisions but he had yet to see and study if he could join them in their proposal.

Over the weekend, various business groups released a statement saying it was high time for the country to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution to attract more foreign investments and get into ambitious bilateral and regional trade agreements.

They called for the early approval of Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 (RBH 1) principally authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. seeking to include the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” in some sections of Articles 12 (national economy and patrimony), 14 (education, science and technology, arts, culture and sports) and 16 (general provisions).

The resolution has been approved on second reading in the plenary with the third reading vote requiring approval of three-fourths of the members of the House.

The business community said RBH 1 was the first serious effort to undertake the often-recommended reform to replace the constitutional restrictions on foreign equity with specific laws.

“The constitutions of almost all countries in the world do not contain restrictions on foreign investment. Most countries who do impose some restrictions on foreign investment do so through legislation or administrative orders that can be changed to suit shifting national priorities,” the business groups said.