Economic chacha to lift equity limits on investment

President Benigno S. Aquino III is shown with House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. and Senate President Franklin Drilon, before delivering his 5th State of the Nation Address (SONA) during the Joint Session of the 16th Congress at the Batasang Pambansa in Quezon City on Monday (July 28). (Photo by Benhur Arcayan / Malacanang Photo Bureau)

MANILA — Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.’s pending resolution amending certain economic provisions in the Constitution will lift foreign equity limitations on investment areas restricted to Filipinos including real estate and the media.

Belmonte, who is a principal ally of the administration emphasized that he will only support amendments involving economic provisions, but not political.

“I am against term extension,” Belmonte reiterated in a text message for the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

The statement was made following earlier reports on President Aquino expressing his interest for a second term through constitutional amendment, only if there is a strong call from the people to have his second term.

Belmonte said that there was not any mention of the president’s plans of having a second term during their meeting.

“No. I talked about our priorities, particularly the budget, [the proposed] Bangsamoro [basic law] and [the] competition policy. We hardly talked about Charter change,” the speaker noted in a separate message to the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Meanwhile, another ally of the president, Senator Franklin Drilon also clarified that he is only approved of cooperating with the House of Representatives in amending economic provisions of the Constitution.

Drilon, however, was not sure if Belmonte’s resolution amending certain economic provisions in the Constitution will see passage in the Senate within the administration’s remaining years.

“I think we still have time. But that is speculation on my part,” Drilon said, as quoted in an Inquirer report.

“Our agreement with Speaker Belmonte is that once they have passed their proposed amendment in the House, we will work on it in the Senate, insofar as the phrase ‘unless otherwise provided by law,’ in the economic provisions of the Constitution,” he said in the same report.