Business luminaries to weigh in on Cha-cha

MANILA, Philippines — It will be the turn of business and corporate executives to share their thoughts on moves in Congress to amend the 1987 Constitution, at the next Senate subcommittee public hearing on the proposal on Monday.

Sen. Sonny Angara, who chairs the subcommittee on constitutional amendments and revisions of code, said representatives from the country’s big business groups and economists have been invited to share their expert opinions on the Resolution of Both Houses 6, which seeks to amend economic provisions deemed “restrictive.”

“They are the ones used to talking to investors,” he said yesterday, expressing confidence the resource persons at next week’s hearing can help the subcommittee make an informed decision on the issue.

Angara said his panel is expecting representatives from the Makati Business Club, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Management Association of the Philippines, among others, to shed light on the state of the country’s economy including its receptiveness to foreign investment.

Last week, the Senate panel invited legal luminaries, among them former chief justice Hilario Davide, associate justices Adolf Azcuna and Vicente Mendoza, and former Commission on Elections chairman Christian Monsod.

Angara said more legal experts are expected in the coming public hearings, which he said may be held on a weekly basis. Among those expected to participate in future hearings to represent the legal community are other members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission, including commissioner Rene Sarmiento, former chief justice Ricardo Puno, former justices Antonio Carpio and Artemio Panganiban, and professors of constitutional law from the University of the Philippines and Ateneo de Manila University.

Angara’s move to widen participation in the discussion of RBH 6 is in line with President Marcos’ assurance to the public on Thursday that only the Charter’s restrictive economic provisions would be touched.

The senator said experts from the education sector and the advertising industry would also be invited to future hearings.

Angara, along with Senate President Miguel Zubiri and Senate Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, authored