Castriciones advocates for parliamentary federalism

MANILA, Philippines — Senatorial aspirant and former agrarian reform chief John Castriciones is pushing for a federal parliamentary system in the country.

“I definitely agree with the charter change. It is high time for us, for our Constitution to be amended or totally overhauled. Do you know why? Because for the longest time, that we have been embracing a Constitution that is not, well, that is no longer relevant to our people’s need,” he said on INQside Look that aired Friday.

“So, we have to somehow entertain the concept of change. Most especially, for me, I have been advocating, for the longest time, parliamentary federalism,” he added.

Castriciones justified that a parliamentary system will allow the people to choose a leader they deem fit for the position, and relieve him from the post anytime.

“You know, the good thing about parliamentary, most especially in England, is that when we have a ruler, who cannot govern the country effectively, even if he just stayed there for one to two months, if the people would not like him, we can put him out, kick him out so to speak. So that we can choose, we can establish a new government that would adhere to the needs of the people,” he explained.

“But if a ruler or should I say the person at the helm of the government is highly effective and he fulfills his role of addressing the welfare of the people, then definitely he can stay there for as long as he wants, for as long as the people want him to stay there,” he went on.

Castriciones said that most of the developed and progressive countries have a federal parliamentary system.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier pushed for federalism, one of his campaign promises, saying this would lead to lasting peace in the country especially in the conflict-stricken Mindanao, and would break the Manila-centric government.

READ: Duterte leaves federalism to next President

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