President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday said the government is on its “first step” towards federalism as he led the oath-taking of new members of the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) in Malacañang.
Mr. Marcos, who is also the political party’s chairman, told the PFP inductees that there was still a long way to go before achieving federal government in the Philippines, adding that the country’s political structure should stabilize first before moving forward.
“There has to be a central tenet and a central principle to what we are doing. And that is—we were talking here about federalism and what we have started to do,” the President said.
He stressed the need to have power centers outside Metro Manila to help in creating a steady and reliable political structure, citing that once the power centers in Manila fall, the whole country will also fall.
“That is very simple. That derives a very simple idea that the stability of a political structure is much more reliable when we have many power centers. If the power centers only belong here in Manila,then pabagsakin mo ‘yung Manila, bagsak ang buong Pilipinas. (If Manila falls, the entire Philippines would fall),” Marcos said.
He emphasized that power centers in different local government units make for a more stable political structure even at the lower level of governance.
Moreover, the Chief Executive told the PFP members that there is still a lot to be changed in setting the political party’s goal.
“We are attempting to be—to transform the government, to transform the bureaucracy, to transform even the thinking of ordinary Filipinocitizens and our politicians,” he said.
Presidential son and Ilocos Norte Representative Ferdinand Alexander Marcos was among the newly sworn members of the political party.
PFP was formed in 2018, while Mr. Marcos joined the party in 2021 and took the chairmanship as he was also unanimously voted as its presidential candidate.
The President said he would leave to local governments the discretion to decide for their respective constituents, noting that it is “the first step of a federal government for the Philippines in all but name.”
The move, he said, would make the country’s political structure and political life “more stable.”
“Because if something happens in one place, even if it falls, suffers irreparable damage, engages in a war or whatever, the other areas [in the country] will remain unaffected).”
He said the federal set-up would continue by bringing more power centers to other parts of the country.
The Philippines is currently under a unitary form of government, with power and authority vested mostly in Manila.
Under a federal government, power is divided between the central government and the local state governments.
A federal system of government also empowers each state to handle its own laws, finances, development plans, health, education and infrastructure, among others.
“With the power centers being given to the local governments, to the local districts and to those who are operating at the local level, and thereby bringing those power centers to many, many places, it makes for a more stable political structure and makes for more stable political life,” Marcos said.