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A member of the consultative committee on charter change believes any vote on the federalism debate should not be framed as a vote for or against President Rodrigo Duterte.

"Ang ayaw kong mangyari is this debate will be personalized, that if you favor Duterte you vote for federalism but if you don't like [him], you oppose. That is not good for our country. Support for or against federalism should be independent of the question whether you like Duterte or not," San Beda College Graduate School of Law dean Fr. Ranhilio Aquino said in a DZMM interview.

President Duterte has long pushed for a shift to a federal form of government, which will allow regions to take the lead in developing their economy instead of the national government based in Metro Manila.

Aquino, who has been tapped to join a consultative body on charter change, said one question that needs answering before the start of the deliberations is whether or not the body is pushing for federalism.

"We have to agree - are we being constituted to frame a federal Constitution? Are we being constituted just to review provisions of the 1987 Constitution? That should be first made clear," he said.

"Do we really want a shift to a federal government? Because that is what sets the tone for the whole consultative committee."

Aquino noted any move to amend the 1987 Constitution should look at a more rational scheme for the distribution of national revenue. He said one advantage of his living in the province is that he has experienced how "dysfunctional a government is that is Manila-centric."

"Take state universities as example. Ang dami naming kailangan na building kasi dumadami nga ang aming estudyante lalo na ngayon na pumapasok na ang mga produkto ng K-12," he said.

"We need more buildings but we are dependent on the capital outlay of the national government. If government throws crumbs our way, how can we put up buildings?" he added.

The law school dean said there is a need for asymmetrical federalism wherein not all created federal states or regions will have the same breadth of powers such as creating their own civil and penal codes.

He also warned that as a consultative body, there is a possibility that Congress may disregard their proposals. "In other words, whatever is the assignment or whatever is the work we put into it, Congress can ultimately say - 'we have a better idea.' That's what worries me."

DZMM, January 26, 2018