Roxas favors constituent assembly to amend Charter

Sen. Manuel Roxas II said yesterday that he favors convening Congress into a constituent assembly to amend the 1987 Constitution but is opposed to amending any of the Charter’s economic provisions.

Speaking at the Manila Overseas Press Club (MOPC) breakfast forum at the Ristorante La Dolce Fontana in Greenhills, San Juan, Roxas said that while he supports the proposal to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly, "I don’t believe that we should touch provisions other than changing the form of government."

Roxas said the economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution are not the "limiting factor of our economy today."

"People are not investing (in the Philippines) not because they cannot own the land. They are not investing here because of the law and order (problems), infrastructure, cost of doing business, labor restiveness and so on and so forth," he said.

Roxas was referring to the constitutional provision that limits land ownership solely to Filipinos.

The Charter’s economic provisions, he said, "are peripheral to (investors’) investment and commercial decision as to whether to come in or not."

"I believe that in a constituent assembly, we should only change... the form of government, make it more efficient by making it unicameral, make it more effective by making it parliamentary, more responsive and retain the check and balance by having a strong president directly elected by the people," he said.

Roxas said there isn’t much debate about the need to amend the 1987 Charter, "but the debate or disagreements only occur when we talk about the method and specific changes."

He is advocating the constitutional assembly mode "because it is faster... because the economy cannot absorb three years of ‘wait-and-see’ to find out what a convention will result in."

He said he prefers a speedy amendment of the Constitution because investors will not put their money in until the basic law of the land is promulgated.

"We cannot afford that," he said. "If we are going to (amend the Charter), let’s do it fast or let’s not do it."

He added that the government should show that there is "predictability in its legal and regulatory systems."

"I am for a parliamentary system, unicameral, with a directly elected, strong president — not a figurehead president," he added. "I am also for a presidential system with a unicameral legislature whose members can be appointed to the executive."

He said government should implement a division of labor which includes "housekeeping duties," such as education, health, land reform and public works.

"Regardless of whoever is the president or whichever party is in power, they will have to continue to provide public services," he said. "That can be handled (by) a parliamentary form of minister and issues of broader magnitude — such as national defense, foreign affairs, international trade and agriculture — are handled by a strong president."

Roxas said his focus in the Senate is to spur the economy at the ground level, such as the small-scale industries.

He also said the government should ensure reasonable and affordable transport costs for all the products of manufacturers in the Philippines.

"It is such an old problem that shipping something from Mindanao to Manila is more expensive than shipping products from Taiwan to Manila, or even San Francisco to Manila... perhaps we have to take a look at it and examine why the cost of local transport is such," he said.

In the same forum, Roxas said he is sponsoring a bill that will empower the Office of the Ombudsman to scrutinize the bank accounts of public officials to boost the Arroyo administration’s anti-graft campaign.

He said the bank accounts of government officials under investigation for corrupt practices may only be examined by the Ombudsman after it obtains a court order, as per the Bank Secrecy Law.

The Roxas measure seeks to grant the Office of the Ombudsman access to the bank accounts of public officials under investigation without a court order, in response to the President’s call to Congress to pass legislation that will increase the efficiency of the Ombudsman.

Roxas also said the Office of the Ombudsman should be given a bigger budget to enable it to efficiently investigate and prosecute graft cases.

According to him, the Ombudsman does not have enough lawyers to prosecute over 11,500 graft cases now pending before the Sandiganbayan and other courts.

He recommended that a select committee be formed to oversee the Ombudsman based on mandatory performance standards.

Meanwhile, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago suggested that each senator’s monthly income, excluding their monthly salaries, be listed.

Santiago said in a radio interview that she had learned that each senator received a P1.3 million monthly budget, P650,000 of which is spent on staff salaries. The rest, she said, is spent on maintenance, operating and other expenses.

According to her, it is up to the senators whether they will have a full staff plantilla to consume the P650,000 staff salary allocation.