President Rodrigo Duterte will continue the campaign for federalism, members of the Cabinet said, despite the admission of the Chief Executive that an overhaul of the government system is no longer possible under his term.
In an interview after his fourth State of the Nation Address, the President conceded that his campaign promise of federalism will not push through in his administration.
But Interior Secretary Eduardo Año said Tuesday that a shift into a federal form of government remains a priority of the administration, calling it the “solution” for the problems of the country.
“Though the President did not mention it, in one of his talks in Mindanao, he mentioned that he is still for federalism. Ultimately, this is the solution for our country,” Año said.
“The question is when are we ready? So, we will continue this because we have an Inter-Agency Task Force for federalism and constitutional reforms,” he added.
Año leads the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the lead agency of the inter-agency task force which was formed by Duterte to raise public awareness on the proposed new system of government.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles also assured the public that funds allocated on the administration’s federalism campaign will be utilized.
“I think it will also be one of the topics to be discussed in the committee on Constitutional amendments both in the House of Representatives including in the Senate,” Nograles said.
The government has allocated a P100-million budget to campaign nationwide for the federalism proposal.
The DILG tapped other agencies such as the Presidential Communications Operations Office to carry out the information drive which produced the lewd video of its then former assistant secretary Mocha Uson.
Last month, Duterte said that if federalism will not prosper, he will instead push for amendments in the 1987 Constitution.
Duterte has made federalism one of his major campaign promises in 2016, claiming that it would break the power centralization in Metro Manila and put an end to armed conflict in Mindanao.
In 2018, he ordered the creation of the 22-man consultative committee which drafted a proposed Federal Charter but it failed to gain support from lawmakers in the 17thCongress.
But even as President Duterte appeared to have lost interest in Charter change, a legislator from Mindanao filed on Wednesday filed a resolution calling for constitutional amendment at the House of Representatives.
House Concurrent Resolution 1 was filed by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez proposes to limit the term of senators to four years from the current six years and to extend the term of congressmen to four years from the current three years.
Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano of Taguig-Pateros earlier threatened to cut the terms of senators to just three years.
However, the Rodriguez resolution needs Senate concurrence in order to be approved.
The resolution also proposes that the term of elective local officials, except barangay officials, be extended to four years from the current three years.
In filing the resolution, Rodriguez said: “the mandate given to current leaders who advocated for change signifies renewed trust in the government and immense optimism in its ability and commitment to bring about improvement in the quality of life of Filipinos.”
“The recent events show that it is imperative that reforms be introduced in the present Constitution for it to be responsive to the exigencies of the times, including the need to provide long term solution to the decades-old conflict in Mindanao and to spur economic regional development in the countryside, and provide impetus to much needed socio-economic and political reforms,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez’s proposal provides that the senators whose composition will be increased to 27from the current 24 “shall be divided into three senators each, coming from each of the following regions: National Capital Region; Northern Luzon; Southern Luzon; Bicol Region; Eastern Visayas; Western Visayas; Northern Mindanao; Southern Mindanao; and Bangsamoro Autonomous Region.”
The resolution noted that “the composition of each region shall be determined by law.”
It also proposes to tinker with economic provisions of the 1987 Constitution (Section 2of Article XII – National Patrimony and Economy) to insert the phrase “unless otherwise provided by law.”
“The clamor and sentiment from a broad cross-section of society seeking a review of certain provisions in the 29-year-old Philippine Constitution to make it more attuned and responsive to the demands of present conditions, have not only been sustained but affirmed with the growing number of people who support the platform of President Rodrigo Duterte,” Rodriguez said.
Under the1935 Constitution, the term of all officials, except the then barrio captains and councilmen, was for four years with no limit to reelections except for the President who is limited to one reelection. Then-President Ferdinand Marcos got around the constitutional ban on third reelection by declaring martial law and later on promulgating the 1973 Constitution that adopted the parliamentary form of government.