A PRO administration lawmaker on Monday scored a group of University of the Philippines (UP) economists for opposing Congress’ initiative to amend the Constitution’s restrictive economic provisions.
“This group is anti-development, anti-employment, anti-economic progress, and anti-poor. They are trying to block economic Charter reforms which we believe will bring in more foreign direct investments (FDIs), which in turn will accelerate our country’s economic development, and create more job and income opportunities for our people,” said Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments.
He said UP, where he obtained his law degree, is known as the bulwark of activism and academic freedom, where progressive ideas flourish.
“But its economists and other academicians should not find fault in every proposal from government, including Congress. They should not oppose just for the sake of opposing,” Rodriguez said.
In a position paper, the UP economists said instead of proposing economic Charter amendments, lawmakers should attend to more important factors that affect FDIs, including infrastructure, connectivity, corruption, and rule of law.
Rodriguez, whose undergraduate degree is AB Economics at De La Salle University graduating summa cum laude, said economic constitutional amendment proposals and other issues affecting investments are not mutually exclusive and could be addressed together.
“I do not agree that the other ingredients for attracting investments are more important than removing foreign equity restrictions in the Charter. These limitations are the root cause of the reluctance of foreign businesses to invest in our country,” he said.
He reminded the UP group that Congress has been addressing other investments-related issues by passing the necessary laws, including the recently enacted Ease of Doing Business Act, the reduction of the corporate income tax, and the grant of other tax incentives.
While criticizing the UP economists, the Mindanao lawmaker lauded the Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) for supporting economic Charter reform proposals.
“FEF leaders have the interest of the nation at heart. They firmly believe, as we do, that lifting foreign equity restrictions would bring in foreign direct investments, which in turn will create more jobs and income opportunities for our people,” Rodriguez said.
FEF leaders and members, most of whom are also UP graduates, included former Finance Secretary Gary Teves and former Economic Planning Secretary Gerardo Sicat.
In a rejoinder to the UP economists’ position paper, the FEF said; “We firmly believe that RBH 7 and its counterpart RBH6 in the Senate will provide certainty to the country’s economic policy direction by giving our legislators the flexibility to create legislation that is responsive to global and domestic economic realities, for the benefit of the Filipino people.”
“The uncertainty in our economic policy framework stems from the contradiction between the restrictive provisions in our Constitution and the attempts to mitigate them through legislation. The uncertainty lies in the fact that enacted legislation, that went through rigorous debate and deliberation by both houses of Congress, can be rendered moot through a Supreme Court challenge on the grounds of constitutionality,” it said.
It cited the recent amendments to the Public Service Act as an example. The constitutionality of the law has been challenged before the Supreme Court.
“Existing and potential investors in the telecommunication and transportation sector must await the resolution on these challenges to be certain of the actual policy of the Philippines. If the Supreme Court decides to rule that this law is unconstitutional, this will greatly damage the image of the Philippines with foreign investors,” the FEF said.
“In summary, it is easy to find fault with proposed solutions to problems, while being completely comfortable with doing the exact same thing that created the problems in the first place. After 100 years of solitude from FDI, we believe it’s about time we try solving the problem,” it said.