‘Economists opposed to Charter change are anti-poor’

THE chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments on Monday described a group of UP economists as “anti-poor” for opposing the initiative of the House of Representatives to amend the Constitution’s restrictive economic provisions.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez asserted that this stance“obstructs economic progress and job creation.”

“This group is anti-development, antiemployment, anti-economic progress, and anti- poor. They are trying to block economic Charter reforms which we believe will bring in more foreign direct investments [FDIS], which in turn will accelerate our country’s economic development, and create more job and income opportunities for our people,” he said.

While acknowledging UP’S tradition of activism, he urged economists not to oppose government proposals “reflexively.”

“But its economists and other academicians should not find fault in every proposal from government, including

Congress. They should not oppose just for the sake of opposing,” he said.

In a position paper, the UP economists said instead of proposing economic Charter amendments, lawmakers should attend to more important factors that affect FDIS, including infrastructure, connectivity, corruption, and rule of law.

Rodriguez said economic constitutional amendment proposals and other factors affecting investments are not mutually exclusive and could be addressed together.

“I do not agree that the other ingredients for attracting investments are more important than removing foreign equity restrictions in the Charter. These limitations are the root cause of the reluctance of foreign businesses to invest in our country, ”he said.

He reminded the UP group that Congress has been addressing other investments related issues by passing the necessary laws, including the recently enacted Ease of Doing Business Act and the reduction of the corporate income tax and the grant of other tax incentives.

While criticizing the UP economists, the Mindanao lawmaker lauded the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) for supporting economic Charter reform proposals.

“FEF leaders have the interest of the nation at heart. They firmly believe, as we do, that lifting foreign equity restrictions would bring in foreign direct investments, which in turn will create more job and income opportunities for our people,” Rodriguez said.

FEF leaders and members, most of whom are also UP graduates, include former finance chief Gary Teves and former economic planning secretary Gerardo Sicat.

In a rejoinder to the UP economists’ position paper, FEF said, “We firmly believe that RBH [Resolution of Both Houses] 7 and its counterpart RBH 6 in the Senate will provide certainty to the country’s economic policy direction by giving our legislators the flexibility to create legislation that is responsive to global and domestic economic realities, for the benefit of the Filipino people.”

“The uncertainty in our economic policy framework stems from the contradiction between the restrictive provisions in our Constitution and the attempts to mitigate them through legislation. The

uncertainty lies in the fact that enacted legislation, that went through rigorous debate and deliberation by both houses of Congress, can be rendered moot through a Supreme Court challenge on the grounds of constitutionality,” it added.

It cited the recent amendments to the Public Service Act as an example. The constitutionality of the law has been challenged before the Supreme Court.

“Existing and potential investors in the telecommunication and transportation sector must await the resolution on these challenges to be certain of the actual policy of the Philippines. If the Supreme Court decides to rule that this law is unconstitutional, this will greatly damage the image of the Philippines with foreign investors,” the FEF said.

“In summary, it is easy to find fault with proposed solutions to problems, while being completely comfortable with doing the exact same thing that created the problems in the first place. After 100 years of solitude from FDI, we believe it’s about time we try solving the problem,” it added.

The House welcomed the Senate’s commitment to wrap up panel deliberations on RBH 6 once Congress resumes next week following the Lenten break.