Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has admitted that the overwhelming opposition to amending the 1987 Constitution “has weakened his spirits on charter change.”
“Honesty, medyo pinanghinaan ako ng loob because of the huge number of people against it. I was hoping that it will be only 50-50,” he said, referring to the latest Pulse Asia Survey showing that 88 percent of Filipinos surveyed do not favor amending the country’s Constitution.
But Gatchalian, one of those who filed a bill for charter change (ChaCha), said he won’t give up on his stand on the need to amend the three restrictive economic provisions of the Constitution on full foreign ownership.
He said ChaCha would be beneficial to the welfare of Filipinos, especially in the education sector. With a majority not favoring ChaCha, Gatchalian now sees amending the Constitution as a huge challenge.
Gatchalian underscored the need for clearer explanations that this is being done not for political interest, but for the good of the people.
“It will be challenging to convince the people although we pass this in the Senate and explain this to them. That’s challenging to explain outside the Senate and convince that 88 percent,” he said.
Gatchalian earlier said the low acceptance of ChaCha was due to the “People’s Initiative (PI) which “damaged the people’s views on ChaCha. Due to this, people see ChaCha as bad regardless if it’s economic or political provisions, he said,
“Because the people saw the bickerings … they also heard corruption issues and the buying of signatures. The PI had damaged the image of ChaCha,” he said.
That stand of the majority, he said, should be changed and that should be tackled by the leadership when the Senate goes back this April, he said.
Gatchalian, the chairperson of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said he is confident that on the next hearings will better explain the benefits of ChaCha.
The hearings will be conducted by a Senate subcommittee led by Senator Sonny Angara.
Senator Nancy Binay said she believes there is a need for more hearings as she herself learned many things from the resource persons who are frameers of the Constitution.
