Poor doomed as Cha-cha looms

The proposed constitutional amendment to remove restrictions on foreign ownership of public utilities and agricultural lands will result in unabated landgrabbing and poor working conditions, a militant lawmaker warned on Thursday.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap made the warning a day after approval of Resolution of Both Houses No. 1 authored by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and which allows Congress to pass a law that would revise the current 40-percent limit to foreign ownership of public utilities, media entities and lands and exploration of natural resources, as well as the 30-percent foreign ownership threshold for advertising firms and other business ventures.