Tuesday, May 06, 2008 Nogie, Pimentel meet on chacha By Ben O. Tesiorna
SENATOR Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and House Speaker Prospero Nograles, both Mindanaoans, met at a hotel in Manila Thursday last week to discuss the senate resolution calling for a constitutional change to a federal form of government.
In a statement, Nograles said that aside from the shift in the form of government, he also expressed to the senator that they should also focus on amendments that will correct 'antiquated' economic provisions and create a better climate for investment.
This can be done, he said, by removing Constitutional restrictions on land ownership by foreign investors just like the rest of the countries in the Asia Pacific.
Nograles described his meeting with Pimentel as 'exchanging of ideas'.
"We had a candid and free-wheeling discussion on the Senate proposal. I proposed that if we decide to pursue chacha, we have to look at the antiquated economic provisions of the Constitution apart from a possible shift to federalism," Nograles said.
Pimentel, together with 15 other Senators have signed a resolution seeking to amend the Constitution and pursue federalism, a move that surprised Nograles because the Senate have long been an adversary of previous charter change efforts.
In that meeting, Nograles conveyed his support for the Senate proposal and its counterpart proposals in the House of Representatives and agreed that debates should now start so that all issues pertaining to chacha will be given full scrutiny.
Nograles said they also agreed that they can pursue an option to turn both the House and Senate into a constitutional assembly and "let our senate and house committees meet informally to discuss details and rules of engagement as to joint or separate sessions as to manner of voting separately or jointly and other such amendments to be proposed by the house".
"Being a Mindanaoan like Senator Pimentel, I share his belief that we can achieve peace and progress in Mindanao under a federal system of government. With 15 Senators backing his proposal, I think that the biggest roadblock to chacha has been removed," Nograles said.
"At least now, the proposal came from the opposition-dominated Senate so I think there is really a good chance that we can finally correct the defects of our Constitution," Nograles added.
Nograles said these defects, apart from the highly centralized system of government, is the highly restrictive provisions on land ownership for foreign investors and the mandated 60-40-equity requirement for foreign nationals who want to establish a business in the Philippines.
"These are economic provisions that have largely contributed to the slow growth of investments in the Philippines. All of our neighbors including Vietnam have already opened their economy so I don't see any reason why we can't do the same," he said.
In a text message Sunday, Pimentel confirmed the meeting although he said Nograles expressed disagreement with some of the provisions of the senate resolution.
Asked what particular provisions the Speaker disagreed with, the senator said it would be best to ask the Speaker about it. (With PR)
