President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (left), Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Facebook)

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.'s apparent desire for federalism in the Philippines will only work if it's pursued alongside Charter Change (Cha-Cha), Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said. 

“I laud and commend the President for saying all he has been doing was equivalent to the ‘first step of the federal government…in all but name’,” said Rodriguez, chairman of the House Committee on Constitutional Amendments. 

“But his efforts toward federalism will fall short of his desired results if these are not done within a federal system government of enshrined in the Constitution. There should be an appropriate constitutional framework for his federalism goal,” he said. 

Last March 14, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved on third and final reading House Bill (HB) No.7352, also known as "An Act implementing Resolution of Both Houses No.6 of the Congress of the Philippines calling for a Constitutional Convention to propose amendments to, or revision of, the 1987 Constitution, appropriating funds therefor, and for other purposes". 

However, the Cha-Cha effort hasn't progressed as smoothly in the Senate and has been placed in the backburner. 

Rodriguez said President Marcos’ dispersal of central government powers to local government units (LGUs) is pursuant to the provisions of the Charter and the Local Government Code on empowering provinces, cities, towns, and barangays. 

“If he wants LGUs to be more autonomous, he should work for shifting the nation to a federal system of government. This will require constitutional amendments,” he noted. 

The Mindanao lawmaker suggested that if the President were decided on a federal shift, he should work on it during his second year in office. “He has enough political and popular support to do it successfully, and make history." 

He noted that previous Charter amendment efforts failed because sitting administrations tried it toward the end of their term in office. 

“People suspected the outgoing leaders of attempting to prolong their tenure. That killed the effort,” Rodriguez explained. 

He also recommended that if Cha-Cha would be undertaken, amendments should also be introduced in the economic provisions of the 36-year-old Constitution. 

“I am for lifting or relaxing the foreign investment and ownership limits so we could attract more foreign capital, which would translate to more job and income opportunities for our people,” he said.