Manila: President Benigno Aquino did not agree with his allies in Congress that the 1987 Constitution, which was drafted during the time of his mother, former president Corazon Aquino, should undergo amendment, senior officials said.
At a meeting with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte at the presidential palace on Monday morning, the president told them, “I stated my opposition [about charter change],” presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said, adding those were the exact words of the president to his allies, hinting it was not a priority of his administration.
At the same time, Aquino told Enrile and Belmonte that a team composed of economists, lawyers will study the proposal and the result of the studies will be presented to the private sector, Lacierda said, adding, “We agreed to have the underlying basis studied by the economic and legal cluster with private sector participation upon the suggestions of both the Senate President and the Speaker.”
Members of the proposed economic and legal clusters that will study the proposal were not released. Lacierda said that Aquino did not give a deadline for the creation of the body and the time of the release of their study.
Aquino was sceptical that efforts to change the Constitution could contribute to economic progress, House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales said in a TV interview.
Aquino did not want to be “accused of changing the rules of the game”, said Gonzales.
In response, Senate president Enrile told reporters, “It was not a total rejection [on the part of Aquino because] he asked for further studies on the proposal.”
Earlier, Enrile and Belmonte said that they were after amending the Constitution with respect to the 60-40 ratio for Filipino and foreign investors.
In the 1987 Constitution, foreigners are banned from land ownership, exploitation of natural resources, and ownership of public utilities, mass media and educational institutions.
“The economic provisions of the Constitution restrict our economic progress and growth,” Belmonte argued.
“What we envision is simply to relieve our people of the rigidity of their Constitution by making it more flexible,” Enrile explained.
The two leaders also wanted changes in the term limits for elected positions, observers said.
Both of them talked to Aquino about their proposed Charter change before the president delivered his third State of the Nation Address at the House of Representatives on July 23.
Both of them have been urging senators and congressmen to support their cherished proposal.
All the presidents who were elected after Corazon Aquino’s term (1986 to 1992) have tried but failed to change the 1987 Constitution.
