Cha-cha to allow multinationals to own factories?

MANILA - denied Charter change proponents are railroading proposed amendments to the Constitution ahead of the 2016 elections. Rodriguez, co-author of the Charter change resolution, said the reason they are holding marathon hearings on the proposal is because there are many resource person they need to listen to. He insisted it is time for Congress to explore ways to increase foreign direct investments to create more jobs. He added increasing jobs is the only way the country can have inclusive growth or growth that trickles down to the poor. Rodriguez said there are safeguards that can be put in place to prevent abuse by foreign investors, particularly on land ownership. "It can be limited to factories, only for factories, multinational headquarters, that they can buy the land for those. So there are ways to protect sovereignty over land," he said. "There are resolutions filed by the Makabayan bloc also and that will be heard, this is not the end. We'll have more hearings in the coming months. We are going to hear each and every resolution on this," he added. The Employers Confederation of the Philippines, meanwhile, said though it is in favor of amending economic provisions of the Constitution, it prefers that the changes be done through a constitutional convention so that the amendments will not be questioned in court. "We wanted a more permanent change process like a Concon, which is tedious long and costly versus the expedient, easy method of amending the Constitution by inserting the phrase 'unless provided by law'. Because we have no guarantee that the future congresses will not do the same and change the Constitution by inserting that phrase," he said. ANC, February 20, 2014