MANILA -- If you are for federalism, consider voting for candidates who will push for its passage in the next Congress, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said on Thursday.
DILG Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Jonathan Malaya made this call stressing the need to make federalism an election issue and vote for candidates on the basis of issues and not personalities.
“We want to make federalism an election issue. Therefore, to the participants in the crowd who are pro-federal, they should consider this as a basis on who to vote for,” Malaya said in a press conference on the sidelines of the National Federalism Summit at the Manila Hotel.
“If they wish federalism to succeed, we need support of elected public officials who will shepherd this in the forthcoming Congress,” he added.
Malaya, however, clarified that the DILG will not be campaigning for candidates supporting the federalism advocacy.
“I never mentioned any candidate. I did not say that we should not vote for this or vote for that. We will not be going around the country raising the hands of candidates who say that they are in support of federalism,” Malaya said.
“If you are for federalism, then you should vote not for a famous personality but someone who believes in your advocacy. That I think is the challenge for the coming elections,” he added.
Topic for debate
DILG Assistant Secretary for External and Legislative Affairs Ricojudge Janvier Echiverri echoed Malaya’s statement, noting that opposition candidates have earlier expressed their intention to block all amendments to the 1987 Constitution.
Echiverri said federalism can be made an election issue in debates organized by the Commission on Elections (Comelec) and media organizations to get candidates to either defend or attack the proposal to shift to a new system of government.
“When it comes to the debates let it be an election issue when candidates will be able to explain why they are blocking the proposed reform and at the same time, those in favor of the reform would be able to explain their sides,” Echiverri said.
Echiverri also clarified that this did not mean that the DILG was discouraging the public from voting for candidates who were against federalism.
“I did not say that the DILG per se, as the proponent for federalism, would go against these candidates --that would be a violation of freedom of expression,” Echiverri said.
“If you support federalism, definitely you would not vote for someone who doesn’t want to change the Constitution,” he added.
Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Nachura, a member of the Consultative Committee (ConCom) tasked by President Rodrigo to draft the federal charter, said that ConCom members are willing to declare that they would not vote for candidates who are against federalism.
“If you ask me and the members of the ConCom, there are 23 members of the ConCom who are willing to go on stage and declare that we will not vote for any candidate who will not support federalism,” Nachura said.
Nachura said that although it is not yet the “official position of the ConCom”, he was certain that all its members had the same mindset.
“We are willing to go public on this, we are willing to go on record and even now I am saying that I will not certainly vote for anyone who does not support federalism,” he added.
Federalism is a system of government, which distributes powers, wealth, and resources between the federal and the regional governments.
This new system of government is one of President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s main campaign advocacies as he saw the need to fix defects in the current unitary presidential government.
The ongoing National Federalism Summit aims to put federalism discussions back on the center stage by bringing together organizations, which support federalism and explaining how federalism would accommodate the needs of Filipinos in this changing times. (PNA)
