Federalism

President Duterte in his first State of the Nation Address, Senate President Pimentel in his Inaugural Speech, and Speaker Alvarez in his Acceptance Speech, made reference to a federal form of government to boost the Philippines’ bid for inclusive economic growth.

Speaker Alvarez outlined that “federalism will allow the autonomous regions to realize their full potentials as self-governing units that are directly answerable to their respective constituents.”

We are aware that there are several ‘models’ of federal states, such as Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the US, Malaysia (and many more); and there are forms of parliamentary systems with strong ‘presidents’ like France (President Duterte referred to that in his SONA, too).

There is no doubt that much more information is needed on the various forms of federalism. We need to understand how it shapes the way business is done, how interaction with government will be at the national and local level, and how it affects the attractiveness of the Philippines as a destination for foreign investments.

It is in this context that the European Chamber Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) – in close coordination with the American and Canadian Chambers in Cebu – is organizing the first Joint Foreign Chambers networking event on 12 August, and will feature Federalism as a topic for the event.

We have invited Philippine Star Columnist Elfren S. Cruz and Canadian Chamber President Julian Payne as presenters on the subject, with emphasis on the question “how business will be affected and how the private sector will have to get engaged in the process of shifting from one political system into another”.

Let me quote from one of the columns Elfren Cruz has written on this subject:

“There have been many objections to federalism as a political model. This political structure is believed to be the cause of more red tape and bureaucracy because it supposedly introduces another level of governance. However, it is best that we look at federalism as an organizational model. Take a look at federalism as a means of decentralization.

In management, decentralization is a form of organization in which authority of the central body is delegated to sub units.

Political decentralization aims to give citizens and their local representatives more power.”

This exciting event will take place on 12 August at 6:30pm at the Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel and will hopefully create enough ‘fireworks’ for a debate after the presentations.

We also open the invitation to the first Cebu JFC networking night to non-members and if you are interested, you may contact ECCP at 253.3387 or 253.3389 or email visayas@eccp.com and reserve your place in the discussion.