MANILA, Philippines - The two leaders of Congress are reviving Cha-Cha (charter change) talks.
Instead of passing the reproductive health (RH) bill and other proposed laws seeking to address poverty, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile wants to get to the root of the issue by amending the restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
In a weekly forum on Thursday, Enrile said he wants to revive Cha-Cha talks, and added that he has had informal discussions with House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte about this.
For his part, Belmonte has ruled out the possibility of a joint vote by congressmen and senators in a constituent assembly.
Popularly known as Con-Ass, this modality involves both the lower House and the Senate convening as a single body to deliberate and vote jointly on amendments to the 1987 charter. In this mode, all lawmakers will get a vote each. In a sense, senators can be very easily outvoted.
Belmonte, "the notion of the [last] 14th congress, [is that] it's possible to act using the number of the House, meaning to say, not voting separately, I don't think it’s possible ... We're thinking ... the Senate tackling and voting on its own."
Belmonte's line is similar to the position of senators in previous congresses, and is a turnaround from the position of the 14th Congress under then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
He acknowledged that the issue of a joint voting was the stumbling block as to why the previous attempt at charter change failed.
Belmonte said he and Enrile will meet again while Congress is in recess to talk about charter change.
In the next meeting, Belmonte plans to bring with him Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II and House Committee on Constitutional Amendments chairman Loreto Ocampos.
Belmonte admitted the issue may not be one of Malacanang's priorities, but "it's worth exploring."
"As Senate President Enrile and I said, we'll get together again during holidays and try to see if it’s an idea that will go forward," he added.
He said this may be the right time for it. In the 14th Congress, allies of then President Arroyo were accused of pursuing charter change to prolong her stay as national leader.
"Well the fact of the matter is, [Enrile] and I exchanged notes on it and I consulted [Gonzales] and we were thinking it is feasible, now that the shadow of anybody's desire to stay in power and change ground rules…do not exist at all in this kind of atmosphere. The notion that it will be divisive seems to have been minimized."
Focus on economy
However, unlike previous talks on Constitutional change that centered on changing the system of government, Enrile said he wants to focus on provisions against foreign ownership of businesses in the country.
"We must release the rigidity and leave it to Congress to decide what businesses must be reserved to Filipinos and what are open to foreigners so that we widen foreign participation in the investment climate in the country," he said.
Enrile said foreign investments are crucial in creating more jobs and addressing poverty in the country.
Philippine laws, however, restrict foreign ownership of any business in the country to only 40 percent.
Enrile said no bill has been filed on Charter change yet, and that he merely wants an "enlightened discussion" on this for now.
"They ask our people to take the pills, ask our people to take IUDs, ask our people to use injectables in order to have not too may children," said Enrile, who is against the RH bill. "Why don't we say, 'Okay, we'll also look at the restrictive barriers to the creation of jobs in the country'?"
Belmonte also stressed they are looking at amendments to the economic provisions.
"Consultations we had were simple, talking about whether congress can act on the economic provisions. We still don't know. We're preparing our own versions of economic provisions."
