SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Tuesday admitted that the declining opposition to Charter Change is due to President Rodrigo Duterte’s hard push for federalism.
He said Duterte’s strong political capital will help convince the people that the proposed revision of the Constitution to pave the way for a federal form of government will do them good and persuade them to support it.
He made the statement in reaction to a recent Pulse Asia survey saying more and more Filipinos are less resistant to Cha-Cha.
“The more we inform or educate the populace, I think the number of those supporting it Hard [federalism] will go high,” Alvarez said.
He said Duterte’s advocacy on federalism was making more and more people receptive to Cha-Cha.
He said he was equally unfazed by the results of the recent Social Weather Station survey showing 44 percent of the respondents are against Charter Change.
“I am more encouraged by the 30 percent that said the Charter should be revised,” Alvarez said in a television interview.
Through a massive information campaign explaining the merits of the proposed Charter Change, Alvarez said, the popular support for federalism could even reach 80 percent or more.
“It’s only a question of explaining to the people, especially in the regions, maybe not anymore in Metro Manila,” Alvarez said.
He believes a shift to the federal form of government will bring a long-lasting solution to the centuries-old problem of poverty because the growth of the regions have been stifled under the unitary form of government, which the colonizers Spain and the United States imposed on the country to better control it.
“Right now, all the provinces and regions are being controlled by the central government because we have a unitary form of government,” Alvarez said.
“By shifting to a federal form of government, these regions or states can now manage their own economy, manage their own natural resources, create opportunities for their people.”
Alvarez repeated his support for Duterte’s preference to amend the Charter through Congress acting as a Constituent Assembly as opposed to a Constitutional Convention, saying the former was cheaper and worked faster.
He earlier said he would also propose to Duterte to issue an executive order creating a Constitutional Commission or a “Council of Wise Men” composed of experts in law and other fields, as well as representatives from various sectors, to help Congress draft a new Charter.