ILOILO City – A two-day federalism roadshow spearheaded by the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) was held in this city recently.
Some 3,000 federalism advocates in the region gathered at the Iloilo Convention Center. They were members of civil society organizations such as the Philippine Advocates for Federalism, Duterte Volunteers for Change, National Alliance Movement for Federalism, Save our Languages through the Federalism Foundation, Inc., Hukbong Federal: The Sincere Warriors of Duterte, and Pederalismo para sa Pagbabago.
Representatives of DILG partner government agencies and local government units also joined.
Prof. Edmund Tayao, a member of the Consultative Committee (ConCom) to Review the 1987 Constitution, said federalism will provide regional governments juridical entity and political power to decide what they want to happen in their areas.
The current unitary form of government only allows the regions to talk about their priorities and recommend them to the national government, he said.
With the 2019 elections drawing near, Tayao also encouraged participants to vote for political aspirants supportive of the proposed shift to a federal government.
Meanwhile, lawyer Ferdinand Bocobo, also a member of ConCom, said they have expanded the bill of rights in their proposed federal constitution, including socio-economic and environmental rights.
“Socio-economic rights provide every Filipino the right to adequate food, complete quality education, decent housing, universal and comprehensive health care, and livelihood and employment opportunities,” he said.
On the other hand, environmental rights will provide the public the right to have clean air, clean water and clean surroundings, he added.
“We can file charges against individuals or corporations who degrade our environment,” Bocobo said.
Prof. Alfredo Sureta Jr. of the Federalism Institute presented the salient features of the draft federal constitution such as the national territory of federated regions, as well as their structure; fiscal powers and financial administration; distribution of government powers; and constitutional commissions. (PNA)
