Less than seven months away from stepping down, President Duterte has accepted the defeat of his push to "federalize" the Philippines on Friday, Dec. 10 before an international audience.
Duterte, in his intervention during the virtual Summit for Democracy that was hosted by the United States (US), shared how he pursued federalism for the Philippines only to become unsuccessful.
"My government worked to give the Filipino people the basic means to lead a life of dignity. This entails creating jobs, safeguarding peace and security, and instituting social safety nets," he said.
"My government also sought to broaden democratic participation through federalism, but my Constitutional project did not get Congress's support," the Philippine leader candidly admitted.
"So be it. I respect the separation of powers vital to democracy," added Duterte, who will end his tenure in Malacañang on June 30, 2022.
Friday was the second and final day of the democracy summit. Incidentally, the US--which is composed of 50 separate states--has a federal government that is akin to what the Duterte administration had been wanting to copy.
One of the biggest criticisms of the current unitary type of government--which the Philippines currently has--is over-centralization. This shackles the country’s regions from achieving their full economic potential, federalism advocates say.
Federalism served as then-Davao City Mayor Duterte's catch word and platform pitch in the lead up to the 2016 national elections, which he handily won.
The push for federalism--achievable through Charter Change (Cha-Cha)--was aggressively pursued during Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez's tenure as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 17th Congress. However, Alvarez was unseated via coup.
Cha-Cha would never get the same prioritization in the 18th Congress. And then, the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic took everybody by surprise in 2020.
"We have significant headways especially in economic expansion, but COVID-19 struck and reverse many of our hard-earned gains," Duterte said in his intervention, a video of which can be viewed here.