The Senate's subcommittee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes started rolling out regional consultations on the proposed amendments in the 1987 Constitution’s economic provisions. 

Senator Sonny Angara said the first leg of regional consultations will be conducted in Baguio City today.

The Senate has already completed five public hearings on the Resolution of Both Houses No. 6 (RBH 6), seeking to relax the foreign equity restrictions on public utilities, higher education, and the advertising sector.

The RBH 6, which was filed by Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri, Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda, and Senator Sonny Angara, proposes to amend Section 11, Article XII (National Patrimony and Economy); Paragraph 2, Section 4 of Article XIV (Education, Science, and Technology, Arts, Culture and Sports); and Paragraph 2, Section 11 of Article XVI (General Provisions) by inserting the phrase “Unless otherwise provided by law.”

Angara said the subcommittee’s initial hearings considered solid opinions from the framers of the 1987 Constitution itself. 

Subsequent hearings, he added, tackled specific public utilities, higher education, and advertising sectors, where the stakeholders and affected parties shared their insights on opening up their industries to foreign investors.

“We had very fruitful hearings that provided us valuable insights from the framers of the Constitution on what was intended in the imposition of the restrictions on foreign equity on the three sectors,” the senator said. 

He further noted the sentiments of affected stakeholders which also allowed the subcommittee to “gauge the temperature of the proposed economic charter change.”

Angara said more public hearings on RBH 6 would take place in various areas in Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao. 

The consultation in Baguio City will be followed by back-to-back legs in Cebu City for the Visayas on 23 May and Cagayan de Oro in Mindanao on 24 May.

“Now we will listen to the opinions of the local leaders, business sector, and higher educational institutions in the three regions and also provide them with a clearer picture of what the entire exercise is all about,” he said. 

Angara also noted that all of the inputs during the consultations will be taken into account once the subcommittee concludes its hearings and starts working on the committee report.