With a total of 301 affirmative votes, the House of Representatives on Monday approved on the third and final reading the resolution that calls for a constitutional convention (con-con) that would propose amendments in the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.
With only six against and only one abstained, the Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) No. 6 is principally authored by Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, Camarines Sur 2nd District Representative Luis Raymund Villafuerte Jr., and House Committee on Constitutional Amendments chair and Cagayan de Oro City 2nd District Rep. Rufus Rodriguez.
According to the office of Romualdez, the majority bloc held a caucus where 300 lawmakers expressed intent to co-author RBH 6, ahead of the session.
The Speaker said the lower chamber aims to limit its Charter rewriting initiative to the “restrictive” economic provisions of the basic law “in the hope that the changes would pave the way for the country to attract more foreign investments."
“We need additional investments that would create more job and income opportunities for our people. We need increased capital to sustain our economic growth momentum,” Romualdez said.
The resolution notes that a constitutional convention “would be the most transparent, exhaustive, democratic, and least divisive means of implementing constitutional reforms.”
“Extensive studies show that particular economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution need to be revisited and recrafted so that the Philippines may become globally competitive and attuned with the changing times," the resolution stated.
The House approval came less than two months since the Committee on Constitutional Amendments began public consultations on charter change at the Batasang Pambansa, and select venues in Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
The envisioned con-con would be a hybrid assembly with elected and appointed members, with the election and appointment of delegates to be held simultaneously with the Oct. 30, 2023 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls.
Details of the convention, such as the funding and qualifications of delegates, are in an accompanying measure, House Bill 7532, now in plenary debates.
