Estanislao: Philippines not ready for federalism

CEBU, Philippines — Although a federal form of government may be good for the Philippines in the future, but implementing such this early may pose an economic danger.

This according to economist and former finance official Dr. Jesus Estanislao saying that the Philippines has to strengthen the economic grip of its regional clusters in order for federal form of government to work.

Economically, Estanislao believes the Philippines is not yet ready for a federal government set up.

The Philippines, he explained further is still on the process of uniting as one economy. Breaking this down through the concept of federalism is not healthy. “We are not yet done strengthening our regions.”

To build a backbone of effective federal form of government, Estanislao the chairman emeritus of the Institute of Corporate Directors (IDC), explained that country must grow its regions and have them linked together to grow as one strong national economy that is able to stand the trade and tariff wars happening in the global trade.

A strong and solid economy is needed before the Philippines decides to shift to a new form of government adding that the different levels of progress in the regional areas also need to be looked into.

Meanwhile, the consultative committee (Con-com) tasked by President Duterte to review the 1987 Constitution on voted 11-7 in favor of a presidential form of federal government.

The federal-presidential system adopts the current setup of a national government with three branches: Executive, Legislative and Judiciary.

However, in a federal setup, the country will be divided into federal states with their own legislature and local governments.