A DUTERTE ally in the House of Representatives on Tuesday urged fellow lawmakers to take advantage of the legislative recess to educate their constituents on the present effort to amend the 1987 Constitution in the shift towards federalism.
Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, head of the House committee on appropriations, said lawmakers—whether for or against the measure—should be able to thoroughly explain to their constituents the advantages and disadvantages of shifting from the present unitary form of government to federal form.
This, Nograles said, will help the people decide properly when the proposed constitutional amendment is presented to them in a referendum.
“Filipinos have never been more aware of the concept of federalism until now. Thanks to the efforts of President Rodrigo Duterte. As we return to our districts in the coming weeks, let us fortify this awareness of federalism among our constituents as we prepare for the big switch,” Nograles said.
Both the House of Representatives and the Senate will be on break from Oct. 12 to Nov. 12, in time for the annual observance of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day.
Nograles said the month-long break should give solons ample time to bring their constituents up to speed on Congress’ imminent action on federalism.
“It is our job as partners for change of the Duterte administration to explain to our people the benefits of having federal states instead of the overly centralized government that we have under the unitary set-up,” Nograles said.
Nograles noted the biggest drawback on the current unitary form of government as experienced by common persons was over-centralization, which more often than not forces individuals to travel all the way to Metro Manila just to complete a government transaction or avail themselves of a service.
“Through federalism, the country’s future federal states would be given the necessary leeway to solve the various problems specific to their region,” Nograles said.
He said the proposed shift to federalism would also help solve longstanding problems, such as insurgency, terrorism and poverty.
To make the switch to federalism, the three decades-old 1987 Constitution must first undergo amendments.
The House leadership’s preferred method to accomplish this is via Constituent Assembly.
Nograles said he expected House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to follow through with his vow last July that he would ask both Houses to convene into a Constituent Assembly should Malacañang fail to form a Constitutional Commission within the year.
Nograles reckoned that a Constituent Assembly was the best method available in revising the existing Charter.
“Compared to a Constitutional Convention or Con-Con, a Constituent Assembly would save the government millions of pesos as we no longer need to elect delegates for the task of amending the Charter. The sitting lawmakers will themselves be the delegates. And since we lawmakers have fixed terms, we will have a definite time period for the job. This means we will achieve our goal faster,” Nograles explained.
Federalism was among the top advocacies of then Davao mayor Duterte when he ran for president last year. He won via landslide.