It takes two to cha-cha

Speaker Gloria Arroyo has admitted her doubts on charter change and the shift to Federalism done during her term, something she must have known was not likely to happen during her short term as Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Almost everybody could see this, knowing that the politicians seeking elective seats will have to troop to the Commission on Elections to file their certificates of candidacy, then unofficially campaign, apart from Congress having long vacation time, given the many holidays, following the congressional calendar.

However, the Speaker, during a lengthy TV interview, said she would facilitate discussions on cha-cha.

“It (cha-cha) might not… be completed in my remaining time in office, especially as there will still be a plebiscite,” Arroyo said, adding she hopes to be able to move cha-cha forward as far as she can during her Speakership. She also said she hopes “those who follow after her will pick up from where we left off in this Congress.”

But just what is the House pushing? The draft of the Duterte-commissioned body that came up with the presidential federal shift?

Doesn’t she, as well as her new team, realize that as a constituent body, any member of the House can propose amendments and revisions? Or will this new team of Gloria just silence whoever proposes amendments, block the vote and simply have a viva voce vote on the passage of the draft charter as is?

Of all the reasons brought forward, pro and con, in the never-ending issue of the Federalism shift is the fact that the country and its people are not ready for it because the many local government officials and officers are just not ready to perform under a sub state. And neither, for that matter, is the present government ready to finance these sub states without bloating the national budget which spells more budget deficits, higher interest rates and more loans than the country can afford to repay while keeping Filipinos in eternal hock.

While the parliamentary form of government has apparently been shelved by the Constitutional Commission created by President Duterte, and that the American federal system instead has been adopted, which means a bicameral Congress, the presidential system hardly guarantees that local officials, who will be running in such an election under a federal system, are fit for the job since most of them are just not ready for such a big job. Nor, for that matter, are such sub states formed ready to have their own legislature and executive branches.

At this time, even as the House speaks of pushing the federal system as far as it can, its members and officers should look at the “sample” sub state envisioned to form the Bangsamoro under the Bangsamoro Organic Act.

Just who will be composing the officers of the Bangsamoro government especially, during the so-called transition period, if not the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters who hardly know a thing about governance?

Yet the MILF insists on a government that is virtually independent, with the nation under a prime minister and a parliament that would elect its members.

In a transition government, the leaders normally segue into a permanent position and, for certain, there will again be fighting among the various Moro tribes, which is why there can never be peace in Mindanao. Worse, this same sub state, in time, will be demanding full independence and secede form the Republic of the Philippines.

But Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said once the shift is approved, local government units (LGU) will be in a better position to attract more investments and decide the kind of incentives they can offer, such as lower property taxes or corporate taxes.

Is Lopez so certain that these LGU officials, many of whom are not ready for such jobs, are capable of running their sub states under a presidential federal system?

What then happens if the shift comes, and later the nation finds that the shift is a big mistake and, worse, the government is bankrupt and can hardly afford to subsidize the 13 to 16 sub states?

But in the matter of cha-cha still being pushed by Gloria up till the time the 17th Congress comes to an end, the truth is that this is a useless exercise because the Senate is hardly cooperative in the matter of the Federalism shift.

What good will all the push for the Federalism shift by the House do, if the Senate will not bother about pushing Federalism when what is in their minds is getting reelected and elected in 2019?