THE standard bearers of the ruling Liberal Party are not on the same page when it comes to their stance on economic reforms.
This became obvious after the party’s candidate for vice president, Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo expressed her “openness” to amending the Constitution to relax some of its certain economic provisions, such as that limiting the foreign ownership of land in the country to 40 percent.
“I have nothing against constitutional amendments. However, it has something to be thoroughly discussed in Congress,” Robredo said in a television interview on Friday.
Her running mate, former Interior Secretary Manuel Roxas II, is vehemently opposed to constitutional amendments.
“I don’t think our Constitution is our weakest link,” Roxas had told businessmen in Makati on Monday.
“It’s not our stumbling block to economic growth.”
A measure proposing to relax some of the Constitution’s overprotective economic provisions was discussed in Congress after Robredo was elected representative of Camarines Sur.
But Robredo said she wouldn’t have voted for the proposal because it had not been discussed thoroughly.
Roxas had earlier said his opposition to amending the Constitution’s economic provisions stemmed from his experience as Trade secretary, when he learned that the problem was not the Constitution but red tape, graft and corruption and the issues in vital government units such as the Bureau of Customs, the Bureau of Immigration, the Bureau of Internal Revenue and local government
officials who abused and harassed them.
Roxas and Robredo also disagree on tax reform, where Roxas is against lowering the tax paid by workers but Robredo is in favor of, saying it will greatly benefit workers’ families.
“Tax reform is a social justice issue: those who have less should get more in life,” Robredo said. John Paolo Bencito