House resolution on federalism wanting, superficial–Duterte ally

CEBU CITY — A key ally of President Duterte and advocate for federalism finds the House-approved resolution on Charter change wanting, describing it as “taphaw” (Visayan for shallow).

Secretary Adelino Sitoy, head of the Presidential Legislative Liaison Office and former mayor of Cordova town, said Resolution of Both Houses  No. 15 approved by the House of Representatives on Tuesday, was “only superficial” in fulfilling the government’s hopes for a federal government.

“At the very least, the House started the ball rolling [on the possible shift to federalism], but it’s only superficial. Everything is only on the surface in context of federalism,” Sitoy said.

According to Sitoy, the version for Charter change approved by the House was completely different from the one made by the 22-member consultative committee (Con-com) formed by Mr. Duterte and headed by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

Great difference

“Practically, the old structure of the 1987 Constitution stays the same, and revise it to insert an article stating that the Congress has power to create a federal state. There’s a great difference between this and [the one] made by the [commission],” Sitoy said.

The House’s suggestion to adopt federalism does not expound on how this new type of government would be put into place, he added.

“[The commission] specified that there will be 18 federal states, including the powers and distribution of income. What the House made was taphaw,” Sitoy said.

He said the lawmakers from the Lower House only “tossed the problem” to the Senate.

Ding Generoso, the commission’s former spokesperson, said the House-approved resolution “should go straight to the trash bin.”

“This is not a step forward. It’s many steps backward in reforming our political system and instituting real and meaningful system change,” he said.

A militant group’s leader in Cebu also expressed concern over significant constitutional changes provided in the federal charter.

Promises of Senate

Anakbayan-Cebu chair Joisa Cesista said her group could not “trust much on the promises of the Senate” to reject the resolution because the senators allied with the administration, while expressing their objection to Charter change now, could be pressured by Malacañang to change their minds.

The resolution has a provision that allows the President and Vice President to be elected in tandem, both with a four-year term and one reelection.

It also allows members of the Congress to be elected to a four-year term, with no limits on reelection.

Duterte is not eligible to run for reelection in 2022.

Meanwhile, exiled Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison called on disgruntled members of the commission to expose the railroading of a draft federal charter to suit Mr. Duterte’s “dictatorship plans.”

“They (Con-com) should expose to the people how inimical to them are the pertinent provisions in the draft charter of the resolution of both Houses,” Sison said in a Facebook interview from Utrecht in the Netherlands Thursday. —WITH A REPORT FROM DELFIN T. MALLARI JR.