MANILA, Philippines – Davao del Norte Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez prefers to have a constitutional commission or con-com draft Charter revisions that will change the form of government to a federal system.

Alvarez, who is incoming president Rodrigo Duterte’s choice to be speaker of the House of Representatives in the 17th Congress, said yesterday he liked the move of the late president Corazon Aquino to form a con-com that wrote the 1987 Constitution.

Although the topic of federalism has been discussed since the 1971 Constitutional Convention, there are still many areas that are not clear even to political analysts. In the interest of full disclosure, I will state now that I have always been in favor of a federal system of government and I have written several columns in the past about this topic. However, today I want to focus on clarifying certain issues.

BusinessMirror Reporters VG. Cabuag, David Cagahastian, Manuel T. Cayon, Jovee Marie N. Dela Cruz, Cai U. Ordinario, Mary Grace C. Padin, Catherine N. Pillas, Joel R. San Juan and Butch Fernandez

MANILA and DAVAO CITY–HE’S excited. For Manuel, a confidential National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) staff, the excitement comes from the possibility of being regarded as an FBI agent.

The leader of the Aquino government’s economic team on Wednesday welcomed and lauded the incoming Duterte administration’s eight-point agenda to sustain the robust growth achieved during the past six years.

Finance Secretary Cesar V. Purisima, who heads the Cabinet Economic Development Cluster, also said a shift to federalism as proposed by incoming President Rodrigo Duterte, if implemented property, would pave the way for a more equitable sharing of the benefits of economic growth across the country.

Amending our 1987 Constitution is the only way we can begin to fulfill our lofty vision to “build a just and humane society” and “a democracy under the rule of law and a regime of truth, justice, freedom, love, equality and peace.” Otherwise, our people will conclude that this constitutional vision in the Preamble of our 1987 Constitution “is a myth and a deception.”

The national budget offers a perspective on the expected debate on whether the country will progress faster under a federal form of government, which is one of the main political goals of presumptive president Rodrigo Duterte.

This year, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) allocated approximately P428.5 billion to the National Capital Region (NCR), excluding expenses for Congress and the Offices of the President and the Vice President. Metro Manila alone will account for 14.27 percent of the country's P3 trillion-2016 budget.

A shift to a federal system of government will help empower local government units and give them access to a bigger budget, former senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. told Radyo Inquirer 990AM on Monday.

The founder of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) said federalism would give more power to local units.

A high level delegation of PDP Laban leaders were sent by their President, Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III to Davao City to meet with the Centrist Democratic Party (CDP) and the Centrist Democracy Political Institute (CDPI) Chairman Lito Lorenzana to explore the resumption of the coalition talks which was discontinued in the later part of 2015. To recall, the then Chairman of the PDP-Laban, and former South Cotabato Governor Mike Sueno, who lead the coalition talks gave way to the party chairmanship to now President-elect Rodrigo Duterte.

The delegation was headed by Vice-Chairman Alfonso Cusi, Treasurer Atty Clint Aranas, Deputy Secretary General for Mindanao Benito Ranque, Vice President for NCR Engr. Salvador Ty and Abbin Dalhani, President for NCR.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) lauds the passage of Republic Act No. 10756 or the Election Service Reform Act, which makes election duty non-compulsory for public school teachers.

RA 10756 entitled “An Act Rendering Election Service Non-Compulsory for Public School Teachers, Authorizing the Appointment of Other Qualified Citizens, Providing for Compensation and Other Benefits,” was signed into law by President Benigno S. Aquino III on April 8, 2016.

Thirty years after EDSA 1 and indeed the revolution is still incomplete. One hundred fifteen years after the anti-colonial war loss to the US may find us independent but with a governance structure that bears all the hallmarks of a colonial government if viewed from by a Filipino outside Metro Manila.