Philippines, US tackle West PH Sea...

changed views on recent developments in the West Philippine Sea/ South China Sea, as well as other bilateral and global issues of mutual concern, with an eye towards identifying concrete measures that the two countries can pursue jointly, and together with other like-minded partners,” it added.

In recent weeks, there were sev- eral reports of China’s harassment and intrusion in the West Philippine Sea, including the directing of a military-grade laser that temporarily blinded Filipino crew members.

The meeting, the DFA said, was also an avenue to preview plans for the upcoming 2+2 Ministerial Meeting next month which will be hosted by the US.

The meeting will be co-led by the DFA and the Department of National Defense and the U.S. Departments of State and Defense.

“Both sides agreed to expand the scope of the 2+2 to include broader security considerations, such as food security, energy, cybersecurity, telecommunications, and supply chains,” the DFA noted. g

PH lawmakers push constitutional...

Rep. Paul Daza, who abstained during the voting on the RBH at the committee level, said that it was “timely to address the economic provisions” of the Constitution.

He voted in the affirmative at the plenary.

Daza said that “having heard the proposed amendment... which was adopted by the House which reads... ‘with a vote of two-third of all its Members, voting separately, to call a Constitutional Convention for the purpose of proposing amendments to the economic provisions’ helped me sway to vote yes to this resolution.”

He added that during plenary deliberations, “it came out [that] there is no clarity even in a constituent assembly on how the voting will be done.”

Section 1, Article XVII of the 1987 Constitution states that any amendment to, or revision of, the constitution may be proposed by the Congress, upon a vote of threefourths of all its members, or by a constitutional convention. Any amendment to, or revision of, the constitution under Sec. 1, Article XVII would be valid when ratified in a plebiscite.

Amendments to the Constitution may also be directly proposed by the people through initiative upon a petition of at least 12 percent of the number of registered voters, “of which every legislative district must be represented by at least three per centum of the registered voters therein.” Amendments proposed through people’s initiative would be valid when ratified in a plebiscite.

House Speaker Martin Romualdez said the House aims to limit its Charter rewriting initiative to the “restrictive” economic provisions of the basic law “in the hope that the changes would pave the way for the country to attract more foreign investments.”

“We need additional investments that would create more job and income opportunities for our people. We need increased capital to sustain our economic growth momentum,” Romualdez said.

RBH 6 states that among the three modes of amending the Constitution, the calling for a con-con composed of appointed and elected delegates “would be the most transparent, exhaustive, democratic and least divisive means of implementing constitutional reforms”. Under the resolution, the election of delegates will be held on Oct. 30, 2023 simultaneous with the village and youth council elections. g

Modern jeepney to retain iconic...

received an endorsement from the Department of Transportation for inspection by the Department of Science and Technology. “When we finish that, we will go into mass production,” Francisco said.

While the entrance of the electric Francisco jeepney is located on the right side, it still has the familiar emergency exit on the rear. Passengers will still be seated facing each other. Its capacity is 30 passengers since the new FMC-designed jeep can accommodate at least eight more people standing inside. It is also air conditioned, has CCTV cameras and is equipped with a machine for the automated fare collection system. It also has a ramp for persons with disabilities.

“It is like riding in a train,” said

Francisco. “We really have it all.”

The FMC will not only be building a PUV that is environmentally friendly, it will also be providing jobs for Filipinos. The factory for the electric Francisco jeep will be based in Camarines Norte and can turn out 20,000 jeepneys a year.

Francisco said it is not only the body of the electric Francisco jeepney that will be assembled at the factory. The electronic motor and all the parts, even the battery that was developed in Los Angeles, California, will be massproduced at the Camarines Norte economic zone.

“We have the best engineers and jeepney makers in the Philippines. They are all Pinoys so we do not need to import jeepneys, or should I say minibuses, because the modern PUVs plying the streets