MANILA, Philippines鈥擠espite the admission by President Rodrigo Duterte that federalism may no longer be pushed under his watch, members of his Cabinet on Tuesday have assured that a shift to a federal form of government is still among the priorities of his administration.
Duterte made no mention of federalism and charter change during his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) on Monday, and in an interview after, he conceded that federalism will not be passed under his presidency.
READ: Duterte leaves federalism to next President
However, in a post Sona press briefing on Tuesday, Interior Secretary Eduardo A帽o said he believes that government鈥檚 push for federalism will continue in the second half of Duterte鈥檚 term.
鈥淭hough the President did not mention it yesterday, in one of his talks in Mindanao he mentioned that he鈥檚 still for federalism. Ultimately, ito talaga 鈥榶ung solution dito sa ating bansa, the question lang is kung kailan tayo ready,鈥� A帽o said.
鈥淪o tuloy pa rin tayo. Meron tayong inter-agency task force for federalism and Constitutional reforms,鈥� he added.
Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles added that funds spent on the government鈥檚 federalism campaign will not go to waste as he expressed optimism that federalism will have a better fate under the 18th Congress.
鈥淚 think it will also be one of the topics to be discussed in the committee on Constitutional amendments both in the House of Representatives pati na sa Senado. I will not be surprised if under the leadership of Speaker (Alan Peter) Cayetano, uusad din po ito聽 sa House of Representatives and hopefully pati sa Senate,鈥� he added.
A shift to a federal form of government was one of Duterte鈥檚 campaign promises in the 2016 presidential elections as he believes聽that聽federalism聽would help spur progress throughout the country.
But despite Duterte鈥檚 push, the 17th Congress did not prioritize the proposed amendment to the 1987 Constitution.聽 /muf
搁贰础顿:听Senate: Charter change is not urgent