MANILA — Congress can resume hearings on charter change and federalism after budget deliberations, Malacañang said Thursday.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque made the remark after a September 2018 Pulse Asia survey showed that only 3 percent of Filipinos were concerned about charter change.
It also showed that 63 percent of Filipinos say inflation is an issue that the Duterte administration must immediately address.
“Right now, the foremost priority of the administration is fighting inflation. So everything is sidelined now,” Roque said in a Palace briefing.
“Tingin ko naman pagkatapos ng budget ay puwedeng mapag-usapan muli ang pederalismo at puwedeng maging election issue din ang pederalismo (The way I see it is after the budget is passed, Congress can continue talks on federalism, which can also be an election issue),” he added.
According to Roque, Congress said the deadline to pass the 2019 national budget of PHP 3.757 trillion is on October 8.
He said this does not mean that the administration is completely “abandoning” its effort to push for a new system of government.
“Even the administration acknowledges na mas importanteng harapin iyong problema na malapit sa sikmura ng taumbayan at bagaman at hindi po natin inaabandona ang pederalismo (that it is more important to face the problem close to our stomachs. However, we are not abandoning federalism),” Roque said.
He added that federalism needs further discussion, studies, and dissemination, but the budget remains a priority.
“Ang pinakaimportanteng trabaho ng Kongreso ay iyong pagpapatupad ng budget law (The most important job of Congress is to implement the budget law),” Roque said. “So everything will have to take second fiddle to the national budget for now.”
Last month, Roque said the proposed federal constitution drafted by the Consultative Committee (ConCom) to review the 1987 Constitution is now open for comments from the public to help improve the proposal.
He said President Rodrigo Duterte will consider the people’s comments before officially transmitting the proposed federal constitution to Congress.
“Even if the President was fully satisfied and has fully endorsed the whole product of the Consultative Committee, of course, as part of the public discourse, we’re open to remarks and feedback from the general public,” Roque said.
Meanwhile, Communication Secretary Martin Andanar rejected critics’ claims, saying the move to shift to a new form of government is “dead.”
“Cha-cha is just on a power nap. Ibig sabihin nagpa-power nap, nag-iipon lang ng lakas para paggising niya ay tuluy-tuloy na ang ating kampanya dito sa pederalismo or Charter Change (What I mean by power nap, is that it’s saving up strength so that when it wakes up, our campaign on federalism or charter change would push through),” Andanar said in an earlier interview over DZRH.
At present, an inter-agency task force on federalism composed of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Presidential Communications Operations Office, Commission on Higher Education, and the ConCom, is in charge of explaining the benefits of federalism in different regions.
Earlier, Duterte admitted that he could not convince everyone to support his push for federalism but noted that this new system of government would benefit the entire country through its wealth- and power-sharing feature.
Duterte said federalism might not assure improved economic condition right away, but there is a chance it would spread the country’s wealth and resources evenly among the regions. (Azer Parrocha/PNA)
