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Lagman: Marcos gave 'covert assent' to charter change push

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<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., during his first State of the Nation Address at the Batasan Complex on July 25, 2022. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2023/news/02/22/20220725-sona-marcos-jc-13.jpg"/><figcaption>President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., during his first State of the Nation Address at the Batasan Complex on July 25, 2022. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File</figcaption></figure></div>MANILA (UPDATE) — An opposition lawmaker in the House of Representatives suspects that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is behind the latest effort to amend the 1987 Constitution.According to Albay 1st District Rep. Edcel Lagman, the president has given his &quot;covert assent&quot; to the initiative in the lower chamber despite Marcos&#x27; earlier pronouncements that charter change is not his priority.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/14/23/charter-change-push-to-continue-even-if-marcos-says-its-not-a-priority-solon">Push for charter change to continue even if Marcos says it&#x27;s not a priority: solon</a></li></ul>&quot;It is surprising that despite the President&#x27;s pronouncement that charter change is not in his priority agenda, the Cha-cha caravan is rolling fast in the House of Representatives,&quot; Lagman told ANC&#x27;s &quot;Headstart&quot; Wednesday.&quot;I don&#x27;t think it is because the members of the majority coalition have decided to cut its umbilical cord from the President. I have a sneaking suspicion that the President has covertly acceded to the Cha-cha initiatives although he appears to be distancing himself from such charter change,&quot; he added.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/20/23/house-panel-oks-joint-resolution-calling-for-con-con">House panel OKs joint resolution calling for con-con</a></li></ul>Lagman called on Malacañang to reveal the &quot;real score&quot; regarding Marcos&#x27; stand on the proposed measure.He noted that past measures such as the deferment of the December 2022 village and youth elections and the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund would not prosper in the lower House &quot;without any go signal from the President&quot;.&quot;So, I think there&#x27;s a covert assent of the President to go ahead with the constitutional initiative. However, Malacañang can dispute this and tell us the real score,&quot; the lawmaker said.Lagman believes Marcos is distancing himself from the Cha-cha initiative since it does not have strong public support.<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=2476506" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments, belied Lagman&#x27;s suspicion the first time he brought it up on Tuesday.&quot;There is no basis for Cong. Lagman&#x27;s statement. Based on our public consultations, there is overwhelming clamor for constitutional amendments now, on its economic provisions to open our country to more foreign investments and provide more employment for our people,&quot; said Rodriguez.While he is not against amending the charter, Lagman said it is not &quot;seasonable&quot; as the country faces economic problems.&quot;The good time is when we are able to successfully address economic problems which should be in the priority agenda of the government,&quot; he said.Liberalizing economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution is not also the only way to attract investors, he said.What would attract investors, Lagman said, is the ease of doing business in the country, eliminating red tape, lowering power consumption rate and predictability in the policies of the government.<ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/13/23/marcos-jr-says-charter-change-is-not-his-priority">Marcos Jr. says amending the Constitution is not his priority</a></li></ul>A House panel has approved a resolution calling for the creation of a constitutional convention to amend the country&#x27;s basic law.The move advances attempt by congressional leaders to amend what they deemed as restrictive economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution.A NEDA official told the committee that amending the charter may cost the government up to P28 billion.Marcos earlier said he was not keen on the idea of amending the Constitution.&quot;It is not a priority for me because maraming ibang kailangan gawin eh. There are so many other things that we need to do first, that we can still do, we can achieve, kung makuha natin ang gusto natin but within the present constitutional, the way the constitution is written,&quot; Marcos told reporters earlier this month after his working visit to Japan.<div>- with report from RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News</div>

An opposition lawmaker suspects that President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. is behind the latest effort to amend the 1987 Constitution.