If elected, Cayetano to push for federalism
Former foreign affairs secretary Alan Peter Cayetano will push for federalism if he will be elected congressman of Taguig-Pateros and House Speaker in the incoming 18th Congress.
“We can start with bills that will lead to federalism, like giving more power to provinces, cities, towns, and barangay communities, and moving bidding processes out of Metro Manila,” Cayetano told ABS-CBN News
Channel yesterday. It would later on be easier to work on Charter change to shift the nation to the federal system, he said.
The shift to federalism was one of his and then Davao City mayor Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign promises when they were running for vice president and president, respectively, in 2016.
“Federalism was popular when it was the President advocating it. It started to lose popularity when politicians joined him. People suspect politicians are motivated by self-interest,” he said.
He added that Duterte gave his go-signal to his desire to reclaim his Taguig-Pateros congressional seat and run for Speaker so he could help the Chief Executive accomplish their campaign promises.
Cayetano filed his certificate of candidacy for congressman yesterday. He was considered automatically resigned as foreign affairs secretary.
Asked if he would support the lifting of term limits for lawmakers and local officials, he said he favors a five-year term of office with a three-term or a four-year term limit with no reelection restriction.
“There is no such thing as a political dynasty as long as elections are fair. But if most lawmakers and our people want a dynasty ban, I won’t stop it. So what if only one of us will be allowed to run? We can return to private life,” he said.
Cayetano also revealed that months ago, when there were numerous complaints about how then speaker Pantaleon Alvarez was running the House of Representatives and Alvarez was losing Duterte’s trust, many of those who campaigned for the Duterte-Cayetano ticket in 2016 urged him to run for congressman and seek the speakership.
Several Cabinet members, including former Duterte assistant Lawrence Christopher “Bong” Go and Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, subsequently joined the clamor, he said.
He said he would form a coalition among major political groups in the House if he wins the speakership. He belongs to the Nacionalista Party.
He added that he would not give zero budget allocation to any opposition district.
Alvarez had deprived at least 24 congressional districts of funding in the 2018 national budget. Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno supported the then speaker’s decision, while the President retained the zero allocations when he signed the budget.
In December last year, Diokno, who used to criticize the use of the budget for political patronage when he was in the academe, said the outlay served as a political tool.
“If you are with us, then you get something; if you are not with us, then you don’t get anything,” he said.
Alvarez lost the speakership to former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last July 23.