Join and participate in this public forum as we scrutinize the people’s initiative for constitutional change featuring Honorable Retired Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on 20 February 2024 from 1:00 – 4:00 PM at the Performing Arts Hall, 2/F Library Building, UP Cebu.
The recent attempts and push for charter change have once again captured the political discourse in the country. In the pretext of addressing the country’s chronic underdevelopment and persistent poverty, a new drive to amend the economic provisions on restrictions on foreign ownership is being espoused purportedly to bring more foreign investments via the full liberalization of foreign capital and ownership. Various groups have set up a People’s Initiative to allow Congress to vote jointly in the consideration of constitutional amendments and proposals for revision.
Suspicions were however raised on potential maneuvers disguised as popular will with lawmakers in the House of Representatives allegedly hijacking the process, posing alarming implications to the checks and balances of our democratic system. Cynicisms were made acute, especially amid reports of local officials organizing assemblies and distributing aid in exchange for people’s signatures in support of the initiative. The Senate, for its part, warned that the initiative “will open the floodgates to a wave of amendments and revisions that will erode the nation as we know it” and “will destroy the delicate balance” of our political system.
It is in this context of our turbulent socio-political milieu that the greater public should scrutinize and discuss, with utmost vigilance, this recent push for charter change. Recognizing the relevance and urgency of such an issue, the UP Cebu Political Science Program and the UP Political Science Society invite you to the public forum on charter change this 20 February 2024 from 1:00 to 4:00 PM at the Performing Arts Hall, UP Cebu.
For this public forum, we have invited Hon. Justice Antonio T. Carpio (Ret.), a former Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines to be our keynote speaker. The forum intends to convene the academe, civil society leaders, and concerned sectors to understand, scrutinize, and discuss charter change — its current resurgence, rationale, and contestations; and its broader implications for our democratic system.