Eternal Sunshine of an Ahistorical Mind: Rejoinder to Monsod, Magno, Punongbayan, et al.

Resolution of Both Houses (RBH) Nos. 6 and 7 seek to amend portions of our constitution that deal with foreign ownership in public utilities, basic education, and advertising. The current limits on foreign ownership in these sectors would remain, but Congress would be authorized to modify them through ordinary legislation. 

The University of the Philippines School of Economics (UPSE) issued a Discussion Paper (DP) recently in response to deliberations in the House of Representatives. The paper entitled, “How to change a constitution by hand-waving (Or, the unbearable lightness of evidence2 in support of lifting foreign ownership restrictions)” questions the validity of evidence used to support both resolutions. 

This reaction paper below seeks to unpack what the UP professors allege is the weak evidence presented at the House and evaluate their counter evidence.

In addition, I recorded a series on The Cusp Youtube Channel that covers the main arguments of the rejoinder. Here they are in order (see below).