More Filipinos still...

PAGE 6 foreign ownership of communication companies –53 percent

This year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. declared April 10, Monday, a regular holiday in observance of “Araw ng Kagitingan”. (PNA) n the 1987 Constitution, while at least 21 percent have sufficient knowledge about it.

Filipinos buck seven key changes in Charter

Moreover, the Pulse Asia Cha-cha survey found that 53 percent to 76 percent disapprove of the following proposed amendments to the 1987 Constitution:

Allowing foreign individuals and companies to utilize Philippine national resources – 76 percent

Allowing foreign individuals and companies to own residential and industrial lands – 72 percent

Removing limits on shares of stocks in Philippine corporations that may be owned by foreign individuals and companies – 67 percent

Allowing foreign individuals and companies equal ownership in mass media and advertising – 57 percent

Extending terms of office of national and local elective officials – 56 percent

Lifting prohibition on

Lifting prohibition on foreign ownership of utilities like electricity – 44 percent

“Nearly the same percentage points are either in favor or not in favor of two Charter change proposals – allowing foreign individuals and companies to practice their profession in the Philippines (40 percent versus 45 percent) and changing the system of government to a federal one (38 percent versus 42 percent),” Pulse Asia said.

Filipinos are likewise “split regarding the creation of a con-con to change the 1987 Philippine Constitution,” it added.

The House has given its final nod to relax economic restrictions in the Charter via con-con, but a similar push in the Senate – distinct with its proposed mode being a constituent assembly –is met with a seemingly unpromising fate as it still lacks support from members of the upper chamber. n