The fate of efforts by two top leaders of Congress to push economic amendments to the Constitution is now in the hands of President Aquino.
According to House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte are scheduled to meet with the Chief Executive in Malacañang today in one final effort to convince the Aquino into supporting the proposal to amend the restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution.
Gonzales said he was informed by Belmonte that the meeting will push through at 10 a.m.
He admitted that the meeting will finally seal the fate of Cha-cha in the remaining days of the 15th Congress, saying the support of Aquino is very material to ensure its success.
“This will make or break the initiative to push Charter change in the present Congress,” he said.
Some of the restrictive economic provisions cover only three areas of the economy that restricts the role of foreign direct investments: the ownership of land, the operation and ownership of public utilities, and the exploitation of natural resources.
Enrile, for his part, said the Senate will consider whatever the position that Aquino will declare after their scheduled meeting in Malacanang.
The Senate leader confirmed that he and Belmonte are scheduled to discuss their proposal to make “minor” amendment to the Constitution with the President who initially said Charter change is not among priority measures of his administration.
“We have not talked to him about it (Cha-cha) yet. Who knows, he might agree after we have explained to him. And if not, we will consider the position of the President whether we will proceed or not,” Enrile told a radio interview.
The upper chamber leader said whatever the decision of President, he is inclined to present it to his colleagues in the Senate.
“We will see what his position. That’s only my and the Speaker position. We still have to present it to our members. We are not supermen. We are just raising an issue and subject it to debate,” he added.
“We must maintain that the President is not under us neither are we under him. We are independent branches of government. So we are going to exercise our power, the principle of coordination with the executive,” Enrile stressed.
As a veteran lawmaker, Enrile said he had studied carefully the economic provision about the 60/40 ownership of foreign investment in favor of Filipino partners.
“I have encountered this problem all my life as a lawyer and I still encountering as public officer of the government and I think it’s time that we to look into it if we want to advance interest of this country,” Enrile said.
He clarified that his intention is not to remove the 60/40 ratio from the economic provision.
“What we said, give ourselves flexibility by authorizing Congress to change the ratio when there is a need for it. But always to protect the interest of the Filipino people in controlling our economy,” he added.
If the President will agree and Congress will approve to amend the Constitution, Enrile assured the Filipino people would also be consulted through a plebiscite.
But Enrile said a plebiscite should not be synchronized in the 2013 mid-term elections.
“If Congress will approve our proposal, we will present it to Comelec but plebiscite should be held separately from the 2013 elections,” he said.                     PNA