amend economic provisions

7/25/2019 Amend Economic Provisions

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I agree that some of the economic provisions of the 1987

Philippine Constitution particularly under Articles XII pertaining to

our natural resources and disposition of lands, XIV pertaining to

foreign participation in educational institutions, and XVI on mass

media and advertising are restrictive and prevent the realiationof and seem to contradict the !tate Policy em"odied under

!ection 9, Article II# $o%ever, this does not entail disregarding

!ection 19 of the same Article& hence, an amendment of the cited

provisions must "e done %ith care#

!tatus 'uo

(ecent facts and )gures, consistent %ith econometric )ndings

from years *++1 on%ards, %ould sho% that the Philippines has

very lo% rates of oreign -irect Investments .-I/ as compared to

the other A!0A countries# 2his means that %e get less capital to

fuel the demands of our developing economy# Although the

num"ers and statistics are not entirely conclusive "ut rather

indicative of our nation3s dour foreign investment atmosphere,

this may prove truer in succeeding years if %e do not adapt to

rapidly changing times# 4hile it may "e 5no%n that the

Philippines has one of the fastest gro%ing economies in Asia, this

apparent increase in %ealth is not inclusive of the ilipino people

and only a very fe% sector of society "ene)t# Poverty,

unemployment, inade6uate social services, inferior pu"lic utility

services, and poor infrastructure development are still very

prominent in spite of the highlighted economic gro%th# An

environment highly favora"le to -Is %ould greatly "e a "oon to

these issues, and one maor "arrier that 5eeps our country fromrealiing this lies %ithin our restrictive Constitutional mandates#

Corruption and a disheveled political system are among the other

factors that deter -Is& ho%ever, these are to "e tac5led in

another discussion# Constitutional amendment shall "e the focus

in this essay#


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ecessity of Amendment

In a glo"al community, %e need to %elcome -Is to stimulate our

economic gro%th, %hich %ould li5e%ise address earlierhighlighted societal pro"lems# $o%ever, ho% far should %e go in

amending our Constitution 2here are of course dangers and

do%nsides in changing our fundamental la%, and various groups

have already raised their concerns and opposition claiming that a

reform of the political system is %hat %e need instead of a

Constitutional amendment# 2hey do have a good point& ho%ever,

that should "e in conunction %ith other measures, such as

possi"ly amending certain provisions of the Constitution#

4e have to ac5no%ledge that a Constitution, though having the

privilege of permanency, must li5e%ise "e tempered %ith

e:i"ility in order to "est serve the people for %hom it %as

created# 2hus, it must adust to changing times# Although an

amendment of the economic provisions of the Constitution %on3t

magically solve our economic issues, it %ill de)nitely address the

area on -I, as it is among the maor factors that deter foreign

investments#

4e have a country rich in natural resources yet %e remain poor#

4e have millions of young minds eager to learn yet our 6uality of

education is "elo% par# 4e have massive untapped manpo%er

that can "e translated to economic gains for all, yet %e have very

high unemployment rates# 4e have mass media corporations

controlled "y a fe% oligarchs, operated only to "ene)t a fe% and

serving less its purpose to 5eep the citienry ahead and a%are ofthe changes and developments that the %orld has to o;er# As

such, amending the economic provisions under Articles XII, XIV,

and XVI are in order#


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ciently managing and utiliing our natural resources# or

decades %e have maintained near=a"solute control over our

natural resources, operation of "usinesses, grant of franchise to

"usiness entities, and regulation of pro)ta"le operations# In spite

of our nationalistic policies, %e are lagging "ehind "ecause %e

cannot sustain our ever=gro%ing population and %e are failing to

adust to the rapidly changing glo"al economy# 4e can neither

simply let small=scale miners run rampant and unregulated

destroying the environment, nor let huge corporations illegally

"ac5ed "y foreign entities due to legal restrictions run maor

mining operations# 4hen %e allo% for a more li"eral disposition

of our natural resources and lands, %e can create a more

transparent layout %here these operations may "etter "e

regulated and of course %ith the ilipino people at its forefront in

spite of a signi)cantly larger foreign involvement#

Conse6uentially, this %ould stimulate development of our

industries, our infrastructures, our standards of living, and our

6uality of life#

If %e allo% more foreign participation and involvement in our

educational system and mass media, %e open up "etter

opportunities to our youth# 2he fear of losing our culture and

national pride is a fear al%ays imagined "ut never realied, for in

spite of our people3s e:posure to coloniation and glo"aliation,%e have remained patriotic# If %e %ere to allo% the more

advanced educational systems of countries such as ?apan,

@ermany, Australia, or the nited !tates of America to "e

introduced and incorporated in our educational system, this %ould

force our homegro%n learning system to compete and thus


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improve# 4e allo% this %ith the future of our ne:t generation in

mind, and this %ould not "ecome possi"le if %e maintain the

restrictive nature of the provisions of our constitution under

Article XIV#

amend economic provisions

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