Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, December 18) — Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel on Monday urged his colleagues in the House of Representatives to properly follow the process in amending the 1987 Constitution if they really want it to push through.
“Not involving the Senate and they believe that they can amend the constitution, impossible. Hindi lang unconstitutional, impossible pa (Not only unconstitutional, but also impossible),” Pimentel told CNN Philippines’ The Source.
He pointed out that muddling with the process will only be seen as unconstitutional, leading senators originally backing the move to possibly withdraw their support.
READ: Senate needs ‘a lot of convincing’ on House’s push for Cha-cha – Pimentel
Earlier, Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales said leaders of political parties support charter change and that they are exploring options that do not involve the Senate.
A people’s initiative is being eyed to push for charter change. Under Republic Act 6735, or the Initiative and Referendum Act, at least 12% of all registered voters must sign the petition to amend the constitution. At least 3% of all registered voters in each legislative district must be represented in the petition.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez earlier said the lower chamber will focus on charter change next year. The House will be focusing on amending economic provisions.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also said he is leaning towards studying changes in the economic provisions to attract more investors.
Pimentel maintained he has “strong and serious” reservations if the only purpose is to relax some of the nationality requirements in some of the economic provisions. He noted it may weaken “a salient feature of our 1987 Constitution which is the nationality requirement for the exploitation of our natural resources as well as the protection over land ownership.”
He also said the proposals should be more specific to show how the constitution will look like if the changes are approved.
He stressed that there are other ways to attract more foreign investments to the country, like reducing corruption in government, reducing electricity cost, and protecting the value of local currency through responsible budgeting.
Asked about using people’s initiative to amend the charter, Pimentel said this will only be applicable to specific parts and not the constitution as a whole.
