Duterte to lead federalism info drive launch

MANILA, Philippines — President Duterte himself would lead the start of the information drive on the proposed federal constitution, an official said.

“The President has expressly said that he will be personally present at the opening salvo of the information drive,” Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea said in a speech at the final session of the consultative committee (Concom), which drafted the federal charter, at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) last Saturday.

Medialdea said Duterte brought up the idea during a meeting with him, former chief justice and Concom chairman Reynato Puno, and former Senate president and Concom member Aquilino Pimentel Jr.

There is no information yet on when the Concom will launch the information campaign. Medialdea thanked the body for proposing a draft federal charter, saying its members have made “an indelible mark in history.”

Adopting federalism is one of the campaign promises of Duterte, the first president from Mindanao. The President has claimed that federalism would spur countryside development and address the root causes of rebellion and extremism.

While Duterte has repeatedly enumerated the advantages of federalism in his speeches, support for that form of government remains low, according to recent surveys. A Pulse Asia poll conducted last June indicated that a majority or 67 percent of Filipinos are not in favor of amending the 1987 constitution while 62 percent are against the proposed shift to a federal system of government.

Officials have admitted that they need to work harder to inform the public about the merits of federalism. They have also agreed to come up with an information drive to make federalism acceptable to Filipinos.

Federalism created a buzz after presidential communications assistant secretary Margaux Uson and pro-Duterte blogger Drew Olivar drew flak over a video that critics believe poked fun at federalism.

The Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) has issued a memorandum reminding its officials and employees to be mindful of the content they share in social media.

Puno, in his speech during the closing session, said that “overcoming the opposition” had been a burden for the Concom and that this was “bigger” than drafting the proposed constitution.

“Our draft constitution is a disruptive document as it will unsettle the status quo and disquiet those who cannot tolerate change, however molecular the change may be,” Puno said.

He referred to the “overconcentration of powers in our national government” as the status quo, which he said is still being “protected and secured by political dynasties who will not yield their monopoly of political power and the economic elite that established a new monarchy, the monarchy of the moneyed and will never give up their throne.”

The former high court chief also said that, through what the Concom called as the “federalism information and advocacy campaign,” they “should tell the people that federalism will end the culture of undue dependence on the central government.”

Article 5, Section 8 of the proposed charter states that relatives of the incumbent elected official up to the second degree of consanguinity and affinity—or the official’s spouses and children, his parents and siblings, his grandparents, his grandchildren, and the equivalent in-laws—cannot run for the same position and for other positions, whether national or local. – With Alexis Romero