The Federation of Economic Freedom (FEF) said that the Philippines will have to amend its constitution to nip corruption in the bud, as the lack of a strong political party system is incentivizing politicians.
“What we need is to change the constitution, establish a strong political party system, and even change the economic model, which is based on Filipino-first and Filipino-only [policies],” said FEF President Calixto V. Chikiamco on the sidelines of the Pilipinas Conference on Friday.
“I am recommending that there be elections for a Constitutional Convention in 2028, (together with) presidential elections, and then they will be given a maximum of two years to come up with a new constitution,” he added.
He said that corruption is not a unique issue in the Philippines, citing events in Vietnam and Malaysia.
“It is just that the magnitude has gone up. But if you want to stop it, we have to change our political and economic system,” he said on the sidelines of the Pilipinas Conference on Friday.
A strong political party system, he said, will help remove the incentives enjoyed by government officials in the current political system.
“We need a strong political party system with state financing of political parties so that an individual politician doesn’t have to steal from the government to be able to campaign,” he added.
The political party system is meant to replace family dynasties, which have been cited among the root causes of corruption.
“We don’t have a strong political party system; our politicians flip parties at the drop of a hat,” he added.
He said that he is not particular with what kind of party system it is, whether it’s a two-party system or a multi-party system.
“But there should be laws against party switching, for turncoatism,” he said.
“Those are some of the things that we can do to change our system because merely putting people in jail will not change the incentives of our politicians to keep on stealing money,” he added.
On the economic side, he said that there is a need to remove all the Filipino-first and Filipino-only policies, as neighbors including Taiwan, Japan, and China have already opened their doors to foreign investors.
“There is nothing wrong with the influx of foreign investors because they would be employing people, especially if they export,” he said.
“How do they protect their local industry? They protect it from the exchange rate because it is more expensive to import stuff if your exchange rate is weak,” he added.
He said the Filipino-first provisions only result in monopolies and oligopolies, thus the need for constitutional change.
At the same time, he said that economic reforms are needed to make local industries more competitive.
“We have to be globally competitive. That means we need to reduce the price of food so that labor costs won’t be so high also,” he added.
He also cited the need to make the constitution simpler to allow room for changes.
“We have one of the longest constitutions in the world, so it is very difficult to make changes when technology and other conditions change,” he added.
Mr. Chikiamco’s statement came amid the government’s probe on alleged corruption in flood control projects starting in August.
In recent revelations, top government officials have also been named as having played a role in the alleged corruption.
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However, Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chair George T. Barcelon said that the government should first address the issue of flood control before moving to constitutional change.
“We are facing this challenge; let’s address this first,” he said. “‘(The) constitution, maybe down the line, we will look at what are the important issues in our constitution that we have to tweak.
He said that amending the constitution requires proper timing.
“We have this concern right now, and in a way it is a very serious situation. Now, if you open up the Pandora’s box on constitutional change at this time, you can’t say who has vested interests,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
He said that addressing the issue at hand is important, as the country is currently behind the curve as far as foreign direct investments are concerned.
“We are now on the radar of the people who want to invest. We just don’t have the landing lights for them to really put their money in our country,” he said.
Meanwhile, Makati Business Club Chairman Edgar O. Chua warned about the possible effects of a total rehaul of the constitution.
“While we don’t have a perfect constitution, I think the way to address it is not to change the whole thing, just parts of it,” he said.
“I think it is really how we strengthen the political party system. Because right now, our politics is personality driven,” he added in a mix of English and Filipino.
He said that he is also concerned about who will be changing the constitution.
“I believe that we can operate within the framework of our current [constitution],” he added. — Justine Irish D. Tabile
