THE Philippine Constitution Association on Friday expressed full support to the proposal of incoming President Rodrigo Duterte to push a federal form of government.
Group leader and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, the head of the House’s Independent Bloc, underscored the need to reform the 1987 Constitution to guarantee inclusive economic growth that will be felt by ordinary Filipinos.
“We support the legislative agenda of incoming President Duterte, including his proposal to push a federal form of government,” Romualdez said.
He said Philconsa, the oldest association of legal luminaries in the country, will convene soon to discuss the proposal for federalism to come up with a position on the matter.
“Philconsa officials will meet soon to discuss this [federalism] very important measure that would guarantee development in the countryside,” Romualdez said.
He is batting for the empowerment of local government units, the devolution of government agencies and the equitable share in the national resources.
He said LGUs faced many challenges in the performance of their mandate, especially in the efficient delivery of basic services such as jobs, livelihood, education and health care.
He said that, with more income for LGUs from taxes, they could improve both their infrastructure and the quality of their basic services to their constituents.
“We all know that we can do more. We can do better. We can vastly improve the quality of services and the quality of life of our constituents,” Romualdez said.
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said pushing a federal form of government required further study, stressing some areas in the country could be left out from the development process.
Belmonte, vice chairman of the ruling Liberal Party who vowed to seek the speakership of the incoming 17th Congress as House Minority Leader, said the federalism proposal needed to be studied thoroughly before talking about its benefits.
While it was good that a state would enjoy a fair share of their revenues and exercise more autonomy, Belmonte said, the poor provinces whose operational funding depended on national government allocation would suffer.
“It requires a lot of study because it seems their understanding of a federal state is that the country will be divided into states, and each state will have autonomy to run its own affairs while leaving only a small portion thereof for national defense and foreign affairs,” Belmonte said.
