Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said on Friday that it may be more feasible for lawmakers to pass new laws that will further liberalize the economy than changing the Constitution.

Lopez made the statement amid move in the House of Representatives by President Rodrigo Duterte's allies to change the Constitution, particularly the economic provisions.

"As a matter of principle, DTI has always been in favor of opening up the economy, liberalizing as many restrictions that hamper the continuous growth and fast growth of our economy. It means these restrictions to foreign ownership of companies in different industries. So, to the extent that it will help to open the restrictions, DTI is, we're very much in favor," he said in the "Laging Handa" public briefing.

But Lopez said if liberalizing the economy could be done by revising some of the laws, it could be more advisable.

"Now if we can do it through revising some of the laws and not necessarily (through) constitutional amendment, this is what we see as easier moving forward," he said.

"If we're talking about charter change, lots of concerns or issues come out such as what we can see right now. We have nothing against that especially if the economic provision only," Lopez added.

He said their worry also was that given the limited time as election is nearly approaching, there could be no enough time for charter change.

"But what we can do perhaps is that those pending bills that will open up, remove further restrictions in order for the foreign investors in many sectors, if we can open it up, we think that is more effective to focus on in this last few months of the current administration," he stressed. Celerina Monte/DMS