The House of Representatives will start with the plenary deliberations on the amendments to the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution next week.
House constitutional amendments committee chair Alfredo Garbin said in a briefing on Wednesday that the committee is already prepared to submit their report on the proposed amendments to Resolution of Both Houses 2 to the Committee on Rules to prepared and schedule the plenary debates. The resolution was previously filed by House Speaker Lord Allan Velasco.
“Umaasa tayo by next week this will be in the plenary. Mahaba ‘yung diskusyon doon, mabibigyan lahat ng pagkakatong magsalita,” said Garbin.
64 members of the House voted in favor of adopting RBH 2 during a committee hearing on Tuesday. Three lawmakers voted against the measure while three others abstained.
RBH 2 seeks to insert the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law” in parts of the Constitution to relax some restrictive provisions in certain chapters such as education, science and technology, arts, culture and sports; national patrimony and economy; and general provisions of the charter. Members of Congress earlier said this was primarily aimed to aid in the improvement of the Philippine economy that has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was agreed upon by the committee to exclude from the resolution the proposed amendment to Section 7 of Article XII which would have allowed foreigners to own land in the Philippines.
