Palace: Duterte ‘cool’ to Mocha Uson's 'pederalismo' video

MANILA, Philippines — It’s unconventional, but it’s a free country.

That was how President Duterte reacted to the controversial federalism dance video that offended even his political allies, according to his spokesman Harry Roque.

In a press briefing yesterday, Roque said Duterte had seen the dance video of Drew Olivar, co-host of the online show of presidential communications assistant secretary Mocha Uson. 

In the video, Olivar touched his crotch and chest as he sang “I-pepe, i-dede, ipederalismo” while Uson cheered. 

But Roque said Duterte wasn’t laughing. “He was cool. It’s freedom of expression. He is a staunch believer of freedom of expression, that’s why he curses frequently. So do not stop him. He is not stopping anyone.” 

“Actually, he did not give any instruction and the President was very cool about it,” he added.

Roque admitted that there are better ways of presenting federalism to the public.

“We know that this is not exactly the federalism that we want. There has to be an official form of disseminating on the proposed changes we want on charter change; but that’s her freedom,” the spokesman said of Uson. 

“But of course, he (Duterte) knows that Charter change has to be more serious but to him it was not really a big thing. He would want a more rational approach to the dissemination,” he said. 

Despite the backlash generated by the suggestive video, Roque credited Uson for making federalism a topic of public discussions. He said the debates about the video should be transformed into something “more substantive.”

“He (Duterte) found it... well, unconventional to get the people’s interest in federalism. In a way, I guess everyone’s talking federalism, probably not in the way that we want them to talk about federalism, but certainly we’re sure that the number of people who don’t know what federalism is has gone down.” 

A Pulse Asia survey conducted last June suggested that a majority or 67 percent of Filipinos are against amending the 1987 constitution while 62 percent do not support the proposed shift to a federal system of government.

While Uson is not an official spokesperson for federalism, there is no stopping her from discussing it in her blog and social networks. 

“She can do anything and everything on her personal blog,” Roque said. 

“I guess what the President says is, you know… let it be. But there is of course formal dissemination as far as the work output of the 

consultative committee is concerned. And the work of Asec. Mocha Uson can’t be a substitute for honest to goodness dissemination.”

Roque said the communication team for federalism has agreed to come up with a trainor’s manual for those who want to help disseminate information. 

“The first thing we will conduct is the trainors’ training that we had hoped that Asec. Mocha Uson will also attend – like everyone else who wants to be a disseminator for federalism,” he said.

DOF warning

The Department of Finance (DOF) warned yesterday that the shift to a federal form of government could lead to a “fiscal nightmare” if not managed properly.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said he agrees with Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia’s statement that the country could not rush the transition towards a federal form of government that might hurt the economy.

“Ernie (Pernia) is right. If we don’t manage this correctly, this can end up to be a fiscal nightmare,” Dominguez said during a hearing conducted by the Senate committee on finance on the proposed P3.7-trillion national budget for 2019.

He said the draft federal constitution made by the Concom reviewing the Charter still “leaves much to be desired” from a fiscal point of view, as there are still missing provisions on some government expenditures.

Under the proposal of the Concom, the country will be divided into 18 federal regions or states that will have greater autonomy in governance and fiscal matters, which could leave the national government without funds.

Dominguez said he was happy the issue is being widely discussed, but raised his concerns with Concom members in a recent meeting.

“Number one, I asked them who is going to pay for the national debt? Who is going to pay for the military? Who is going to pay for the DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) and the central bank? And if it needs additional capital, who is going to put that up?” Dominguez said.

“And the response was that the sharing with the local government units, of the states, will be after those expenses. I said, you know, when I read the draft it doesn’t say so there, it just said 50 percent. That’s what you say but how come it’s not in the draft?” he added.

Under the Concom’s draft constitution, federal regions would be given a share of not less than 50 percent of all collected income taxes, excise taxes, value-added tax and customs duties, which would be equally divided among them.

Dominguez said there are many issues that would need to be worked out first before the country could shift to a federal constitution.

Earlier, Pernia warned the administration to exercise caution in its push for federalism as it may wreak havoc on the country’s fiscal situation if regions are not ready for the transition.

He said it may disrupt infrastructure development in the regions and inflict damage on the country’s balance sheet, adding the fiscal deficit could hit six percent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

However, spokesman Roque had refuted Pernia’s warning, noting the shift to federalism would not involve drastic changes in the budget program.

Roque said the transition would also not cause delays or abandonment of infrastructure projects.

Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) chair Renato Magtubo said the labor group would mobilize workers against the Charter change for federalism being pushed by the Duterte administration.

Magtubo claimed that the shift to federalism is a scheme to perpetuate Duterte and Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in power. 

He said the controversial video dubbed as “Pepedederalismo video” that critics claimed trivialized Charter change for federalism is just a waste of taxpayers’ money.

He also assailed Olivar whose dance was the video’s centerpiece, for his indecent promotion of Pepedederalismo and distribution of fake news.   

Olivar, in a Facebook post last Sept. 30, 2017 accused Ver Estorosas, a PM leader, of receiving P8 million to mobilize people for a protest rally on Sept. 21, 2017 in Rizal Park, Manila. 

PM said Estorosas is also a community leader helping urban poor residents get housing concession. – With Mary Grace Padin, Paolo Romero, Mayen Jaymalin, Robertzon Ramirez