MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Robinhood Padilla, an ardent supporter of the previous Duterte administration, made good on one of his consistent campaign promises and revived the push for federalism in Congress with a resolution Thursday.
In filing Senate Resolution No. 6, Padilla made his case by pointing to what he said was the centralization of both political and economic capital in and around the National Capital Region.
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The measure urges the Senate committee on constitutional amendments, which Padilla chairs, to study and revise codes that should be changed in the 1987 Constitution. The committee did a similar study on charter change during the 18th Congress.
"It is unfortunate that after 35 years from [the Constitution's] effectivity, we have yet to attain a 'just and humane society,'" Padilla wrote. "Sovereign Filipino people promulgated the Constitution in order to build [just that.]"
In particular, Padilla — the first-placer in the senatorial polls in May — said that restrictions on foreign equity in natural resources, public utilities, build-operate-transfer projects, and equity in mass media would need reassessment, calling these "stumbling blocks to equitable economic growth."
He also pointed to "provisions particular to the form, structure, and power of government, economy and patrimony."
The neophyte senator claimed that the regions would be "more familiar with the needs and priorities of their respective localities," pointing out that the country's economic growth "has been largely centralized" in the Greater Luzon area, which account for 57% of its gross domestic product.
"Except for the insignificant powers devolved to the local government units, our unitary system of government is concentrated to the central government authority distributed to the three branches of the government instead of decentralized powers delegated to the regions," he said.
The Local Government Code has devolved many of the powers of the national government to local ones and opponents of charter change have argued that better implementation of the LGC could address these issues.
Alternative to 'mob rule'
Padilla, who has urged the public to get to know the narrative of the Marcos family as well when they were forced to flee the country post-dictatorship, went on to frame the EDSA events of 1986 and 2001 as "political instabilities [that] threatened the basic foundation of our democracy."
"Under the parliamentary system, there will be an institutionalized and peaceful approach to removing a head of government in lieu of the unconstitutional and highly divisive coup d'etat or mob rule that our country had experienced," he wrote.
The former actor from Camarines Norte has long railed against "imperial Manila," which was among the same narratives employed by the Duterte administration in pushing for federalism. The campaign for federalism faltered for lack of public support.
Shifting to federal governance and decentralizing power to local governments was among the many campaign promises of former President Rodrigo Duterte until he ultimately gave up on the idea himself, admitting that it is “not accepted” by the majority of Filipinos.
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This time around, though, the Senate is dominated by a supermajority that is largely sympathetic to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s announced priorities.
Marcos has agreed that a federal form of government rather than a unitary one would "fit" the country, though he has admitted that changing the Constitution would be "difficult."
Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia has urged the Marcos government to focus on economic growth first in its early years instead of federalism, pointing to the numerous crises facing the country in recent months.
A March 2018 survey by the Social Weather Stations suggested that only one in four Filipino adults knew about the federal system, while the remaining 75 percent said they only learned of it during the course of the survey. — with reports from Angelica Y. Yang and The STAR