t4 WEDNESDAY
..Thiihas been tried twice Fefore, under Fidel Ramos and
SKETCHES
ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN
Federalism, Plan B
ffihe thick book on constitutional
. I r"forms, galherirg dust on my
I bookshelf since the report was
srrbmiftr..d in 1999 by a preparatory
commission to then presiden t .Joseplr
Estrada, is now joined by a much thin-
ner dralt Constituti on,
This latestone was prepared by the
consultative committae or Concom,
which President Duterte created to
tederal cnarrer.
draft a leoerau
olan charter l
-
Dutertc never officiallv hansmitted the Concom's fin-
ished prod uct to Congressi Maybe ht' thought i t was mough
that the Concom also fu mished the House of Repres€ntatives
with a coov. shortlv before his State of the Nation Address
last vear, Oi maybe'he got d istracted by the power struSSle in
,the llOR. which ended with the ouster of Pantaleon Alvarez
as speaker and replacement by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
The ArroyoJed HOR gave tJre draft charter a Pertunc-
tory glance, lnd then promptly got to work on its own ver-
sioir,"removing the ariti-dyhasty provision and relegating
federalism to in option. Not surprisingJy, this version was
overwhelminslr r;tified bv the HOR.
And noLsJifrisingly, Di.rtertq who made federalism one
ofhis campaigi plaforms, seems to have Put his advgcary
on the ba& burirer. Esoeciallv now that the BARMM or
Bangsamoro Autouomdus Relion in Muslim Mindanao -
barring an adverse Supreme eourt ruling - is on Lhe way
to beins established
W thou{ federatism, Du te rte has often said, the conflict in
Mindanao would neverend. Wth the Bangsamoro Organic
Law (BOL) ratifie4 he should hope his words won't Prove
p'rophetic.
' Voro National Liberation Front founding chairman Nur
,Msuari doe$/t want the ARMM, which he once govemed
'abolished. and he didn't support Lhe BOI.. Vi.uari's baiii-
u ick of Sulu. a significant firl o{ the ARMM, rejected the
BOL, and is no',r' irappling with armed violence Cotabato
City, seal of the ARMM 6ut which always voted to stay
iouf ot t]re resion, looks polarized by the result of the BOL
plebiscite in "t-he city, wlth locat officials leading those who
ire claimins fraud.
Tlrere'. no m.,rc hope for federalism through Charter
clrange irr the current ( ongress. lhe HOR draft Chaner'
3s seieral senalors warrrcd; was DOA, dead on arrival in
-their
chamber. Bul lhe push {or federalism is not yet dead.
.l
There are at least 0 c*ata","" Suuk . ,enate seat on a
"* Concom spokes-
federalism plat(orm. One of them, former
.man Conrado "Ding" Ceneroso, faced fhe Chiefs this week
on One Nerus / Cianal TV.
AJter seeing th"e product of their mon*s of labor uncer-
emoniouslv tossed out bv the HOI( Concom members met
. with Duterte in August iast year, in hopes of getting some
guidance on what to do nextl But they gotno hint ftom the
President.
Ceneroso told us that federalism proPonents are no-w
considering Ptan B - a peopLe's inidative to amend the
Constitutioh for a shift to federalism.
,\p[e,e - /r1 ,,
I FEBRUARY 13,2019
CMA. Both ended in the scrap heap amid susPicions thet
the efforts were meant chieflv io allow the prcsidenl to stay
in oower bevond the sinsle iix-vear term fimit.
'ln the cise oI the siinatt rj campaign for a people's
initiative durine CN4A'ipresidency, her defense secretary
and former chiif leeal coirnsel Aveiino Cruz described the
rushcd effort as "a lEgallv harebrained idea." Nonong Cruz
then resiened.
Ding beneroso told us that the current push for a people's
initiative would avoid the weaknesses ot the Prel'rous et-
'Iorts, He said it would also exclude certain personalities
'who eave dre past initiatives a bad name.
' Tlie oriei nal idea" hesaid, was to launch the people's ini-
tiative alorieside the campaim for Senate seats of ihe 12 can-
'a aut"t ta"V* to t O after'tw 5 were di sq ualified) of his parlv,
the Katiounan ne Kamalav aj1g Kayumanggi. Realizing that
this could prove"complicitedl hoiryever, he said they have
adiusted tlxeir timetind, with Uae Iaunch envisioned after the
May e)ections, or when the next Congress has convened
,, One achievement of the Concom is that it stimulated
lpublic discussion on some o{ the provisions in the draft
. tharteq notably the 1ifting of term limits if an antidynasty
orovision is approved .
' f ederalisni ind Cha-chahowevet aren'l the only advo-
cacie of Generoso in case he is elected.
Ano*rer oroposal, which should resonate in this cam-
naicn oeriod, is lhe creation of a common fund to which
!uu"* d*ouu"..rn .ontribute voluntdrily
to,se dd V6necla, rr hen he was House s6eaker, had made a
mi lar orooosal, d ra rv in e frqm p racti cei i n other coultries'
si
But the'common reactioiu as w}y taxpayers should bank-
roll the election campaims of "peopie qreed\ thieves and Incom-
petent clo\4'ns. Aren'i oriinar-v uurdened enough?
' Perhaos some trvealine and differ€nt endorse6 !'r'ould
nrale the idea more palatible. Generoso savs the common
a"*p"igt fund can'be drawn from taxes-collected from
oersonal and corporate income.
' Durine ta>. oivment time, a taxpayer can indicate if he
wantt a u"ortioi df hs pavmenl to io io dre fund, which as
the nami implies woild not go tdany specific candidate
or parw.
h niultisectoral body wouJd be set up to supervise the
hmd, for equitable allocation durlng, campaign season as
well a5 trarL5Darencv in donations and expendituJes'
U a maioicompiny or organization oi one o[ the coun-
trv's weal*riesl i niivid u al s ri an [s to su pPort a speci 6 c can -
didate or political parw, the a mount m ust nol be mo re tllan
'10 perceni
of any imount that Lhe donor vrill be rcqujr€d to
. contribute to th6.ommon campaign fund.
This. Ceneroso savs, rvill rbd rice candidates' politi(al
debts to anv jndividial or intere5t qroup Such debts are
usuallv reoiid ilLroush s\^'eethear-t ieali endorsed or di-
rectlv-appioved bv th'e winning candidate, or thlough ap
pointrnLnts to govemment Positions even for those lacking
quali6 cations,
Repaying campaign support isone of the principal pu5-
es of corruption and inefticlency m government. r,oBcauy,
reformhg ihe system would enjoy widesprcad suPPorL
This. if courie, is not losical for our politicians.
Only a naif leaves a pap-er tail for cahpaign donations
Carnpiien conlributions can be a soulce of enormous
u"d the donations evade the radar.of the
""ttd"ut"weattlt"
bueau of lntemal Revenue. If s no ioke that there are people
in this countrv who seek elective office "for the fund of it "
Campaieli financinq is a black hole for the anti-money
launderine"oolice Opa"que or non-existent rules allow even
J -e a"d"".t, t-" gg fers, kid nappers' luefa rg lords and other
ean"esters to finanG election campaigns with dirty money'
" ihe oroposal of Generoso and hii fellow federalists on
the cominoir, campaign fund appears dead in the water' StiI
thii ia pulg" t"itoi is an opiortunity to Present the idea
to voters and allow it to germinale
Ifs like the movement for federalism: proponents never
sav die.