Thousands of lands may be covered by agrarian reform if House Bill No. 555 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill will be passed into law.

Secretary Rafael Mariano said, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) is continuously receiving petitions of land holding that may possibly be subject to agrarian reform even if the issuance of notice-of-coverage or NOC had lapse in June 2014.

President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing for Charter amendments to ease the foreign ownership of companies to spur economic growth and job generation in the country.

In a press conference in Davao City Thursday night, the President announced that he was in favor of a proposed 50-50 cap on foreign ownership of land, natural resources, public utilities, among others, from the current 60-40 rule in the Constitution.

“The CDP must come first in policy debates and must have a clear position as a political party.”

Prof. Malou Tiquia of Publicus Asia graces as a guest speaker on Political Messaging to active members of the Centrist Democratic Party of the Philippines as it pursues its campaign on Federal-Parliamentary system of government for the Philippines last August 9-10 in Cagayan de Oro City.

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There are no clearer marching orders given to Congress than the pronouncement of President Rodrigo Duterte in his recent SONA that the Philippines should adopt a federal-parliamentary government modeled after France, with a “strong” President. Federalism was a major rallying cry for then presidential candidate Digong (the other was peace and order). We are looking at a leader who is keeping his word.

MANILA, Aug. 10 - Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III recently issued a labor advisory prohibiting labor-only contracting and ensuring strict implementation and enforcement of workers’ right to security of tenure.

“Labor-only contracting is prohibited. This means that labor-only contracting, or those arrangement where the contractor or subcontractor merely recruits, supplies, or places workers to perform a job, work, or service for a principal, is illegal,” said Bello.

Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Congressional leaders on Tuesday met to talk about how the two chambers would vote in amending the Constitution.

Congress, sitting as a constituent assembly (con-ass), may propose amendments by a three-fourths vote of all its members.

MANILA, Philippines – President Duterte can do away with the multibillion-peso cost of holding a constitutional convention (con-con) if the number of delegates is reduced to 80 or even 18, according to Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said that it is “greatly concerned” on the rise in killings of suspected drug users and dealers in the Philippines.

In a statement, UNODC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said that he shares UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s condemnation of the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects in the country.

ILOILO CITY — An official of the Catholic Church in Iloilo is opposing a move led by President Duterte to amend the Constitution through a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass).

“A Con-ass is dangerous because this could be exploited by politicians for their personal and political agenda,” said Monsignor Meliton Oso, executive director of the Jaro Archdiocese Social Action Center.

As the Philippines transits to a Federal State (hopefully by a Constitutional Convention) it will become important to start thinking of government assets and facilities in terms of their being Federal or Regional in character. While some government assets and facilities are clearly National like the NAIA airport or military camps, others, like the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) OR SBMA are clearly only Regional in character, meaning the impact of operations hardly goes beyond the region.