The House of Representatives approved the resolution calling for a Constitutional Convention with a vote of 301-6-1, that will amend the 1987 Constitution.
It can be remembered that one of the purposes of this Constitutional Convention is to attract more foreign investments in the country.
“We need additional investments that would create more job and income opportunities for our people. We need increased capital to sustain our economic growth momentum,” said House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Moreover, economic groups said that the reforms under this resolution should be implemented.
“Extensive studies show that particular economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution need to be revisited and recrafted so that the Philippines may become globally competitive and attuned with the changing times,” as stated in the resolution.
On the other hand, 6 lawmakers voted NO on the call for Constitutional Convention.
Deputy Minority Leader Mujiv Hataman stated the reason for opposing the said resolution.
According to Hataman, even if the President does not consider Con-Con as a priority of the administration, the country will need a lot of funds and resources for Con-Con.
The lawmaker emphasizes that economic provision in the 1987 Constitution is not the only reason why foreign investors do not invest, there are a lot of reasons as he says such as the high power rates, overwhelming corruption and red tape, lack of infrastructures for businesses, and even the peace and order.
“I am of the opinion that this should be studied further. Do we even have an exhaustive or comparative study to show how much revenues are we losing by not amending the economic provisions of the Constitution?”, Representative Hataman added.
Under different administrations the country achieved economic growth without the amendment in the constitution, says Representative Hataman.
