WITH at least six business groups backpedaling on their support for amending the 'restrictive' provisions of the 1987 Constitution, Charter change advocates in Congress should now lay the issue to rest.

Business leaders representing the Makati Business Club (MBC), Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (Finex), Filipina CEO Circle, Judicial Reform Initiative, Philippine Women's Economic Network, and Women Business Council of the Philippines issued a joint statement on March 24, saying that tinkering with the Constitution was a 'potentially disruptive proposal at a time when the country may be poised to regain its economic momentum.'