CEBU City – Over 30 journalists from the Visayas are attending a three-day seminar-workshop, “Understanding Federalism in the Philippine Context,” organized by the Philippine Press Institute (PPI) in cooperation with the Pimentel Institute for Leadership and Governance and the Hanns Seidel Foundation.
The workshop opened yesterday at Summit Circle Cebu Hotel.
PPI executive director and trustee Ariel Sebellino clarified that the conduct of the seminar-workshop does not mean the Institute was endorsing or campaigning for a shift a federal form of government. Rather, he said, the goal was to help enlighten media practitioners and the public on the intricacies of federalism by examining the characteristics of a federal form of government, the allocation of authority and power between national and state governments for example.
The workshop shall explore the historical underpinnings and normative theories of federalism, evaluate federalism doctrines from other countries, and consider the role of federalism in contemporary political/social issues.
Atty. Ibarra Gutierrez III, assistant professor at the University of the Philippines’ College of Law, discussed institutional characteristics of federalism such as the following:
* shared rule and divided rule
* three independence branches of government at unit level
* units have their own constitutions
* representation and participation of units in the central government; equal and unequal representation
* representational right as “veto power” to certain ethnic groups
* federal party system
Also tackled were values of federalism. These were the following:
* recognition of and respect for diversity
* solidarity
* non-centralization
* residual power rests with units
* corporation and competition
* subsidiarity
* equality of units vis-à-vis central government
* protection of federal principles through nation/unit constitutions
Gutierrez said it was important that media practitioners understand the institutional characteristics of federalism so they could in turn make the public understand the current push for a shift to a federal form of government.
Also discussed yesterday were the salient points of the draft Charter of a proposed federal government, by Professor Edmund Tayao, executive director for the Local Government Development Foundation.
Today, the workshop will have a comparative analysis of practices regarding political dynasties and taxation in federal countries (by Gutierrez); the peace process in the Philippines (by Atty. Jesus Dureza, secretary, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process); Bangsamoro Organic Law (by Atty. Cheryl Daytec-Yañgot, assistant secretary of the Department of Justice)./PN
