Pastors support Rody’s federalism
Pastors from various religious groups nationwide held a press conference in Quezon city last Friday to show support to President Duterte’s advocacy for Philippine federalism.
Led by the People’s National Coalition along with several other groups that support advocacy, they expressed public understanding of what federalism is.
In the proposed form of government, the leader of the country is called the Prime minister, assisted by four deputy Prime Ministers in Luzon, one for Visayas, one for Mindanao and one for Metro Manila who would all be appointed by the President.
The prime minister is the head of the cabinet composed of ministers appointed by the president. Some of the cabinet ministers are members of the federal assembly subjected to the confirmation of the federal Commission on Appointments.
The Deputies of the Cabinet ministers shall also be appointed by the President. In federalism, the Prime minister may be removed from office by a mere vote of no confidence by majority members of the Federal Assembly.
He may also be removed upon the dissolution of the Federal Assembly by the President.
They also clarified that the federal assembly is composed of elected members from the provinces, cities and party list organizations and not by district.
Each city is entitled to have one member, also from province, while each unrepresented and marginalized sector is entitled to not more than three members, depending on the number of votes they should obtain as may be provided by the law.
The sectors that should be represented in the federal assembly through the party list systems are labor, urban poor, farmers, fisher’s folks, women, youth, senior citizen, indigenous people, LGBT, persons with disability, overseas Filipino workers, rebel returnees and drivers herein referred to as transport.
They also remind that any person seeking representation to the Federal Assembly under the Partylist system must be a member and elected by the members of the sectors he seeks to represent.
They also clarified that the federal assembly is composed of elected members from the provinces, cities and party list organizations and not by district.