Can we have another Cha-cha, please?
Amid the economic hardships that Filipinos face during this pandemic, a group of legislators are once again reviving the Charter Change issue months before the 2022 national and local elections.
The proponents of the Cha-cha in the House of Representatives may have been exhausted already of finding ways to revive the economy and wanted some prospects of extending their term of office or at least get the attention of the public for media mileage.
The recycled proposals again center around amendments to the economic provisions of the Constitution by easing constitutional restrictions on foreign ownership. These are the same proposals in the previous attempts but with a melodramatic twist that the proposed amendments would help offset the damaging effects of the pandemic on the country’s economy. Another spice in the proposal is the President’s directive to use Cha-cha, not as a weapon against COVID-19, but against leftist party-list group.
The resurrected Cha-cha proposal faces a high-level of public distrust both as to its true intentions and the proposed manner of amending the Constitution coupled with the timing of the proposal.
The restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution have long been blamed why our economy lags our ASEAN counterparts. However, there are other factors in the Philippine business environment that contribute to the foreign investors hesitation to invest in the country. One of these is the lingering problems of red tape and corruption in the different agencies of the government. While it may be true that the Duterte Administration is able to pass the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 (R.A. 11032), transacting with the government remains complicated and cumbersome. The Citizens’ Charter posted conspicuously on the walls of government offices seems to serve the purpose of merely paying a lip service to the requirements of the law.
The cost of doing business in the Philippines is relatively high and business transactions are subject to double taxation which are comparably higher than what neighboring countries impose. The CREATE (Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act) Bill promises to offer a relief from the heavy taxes imposed on partnerships and corporations. When the Senate approved the bill on its third and final reading, the public eagerly waited for the House of Representatives to pass their own version of the bill. However, the House now seems to have a fixation to do a Cha-cha to attract more investors.
While the restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution are fixtures which can be considered as a double-edged sword, the House of Representative should rather hasten the passage of laws that will make the Philippine business climate more attractive to foreign investors. Several attempts to amend the Constitution through Constituent Assembly were made in the past under the same pretext, but the people have consistently opposed the move. The Cha-cha proponents should. time and again, realize that whatever is the motive to amend the Constitution, the people have always rejected the idea of entrusting the amendment of the sacred instrument containing the hopes and aspirations of the Filipino people in the hands of the politicians.