State of Negros Island: Coming Soon
The federalism in the Philippines is being pushed by President Rodrigo Duterte under all circumstances with the responsibilities of the House of Representatives, who are pushing to create the draft for the federal formation.
Country to Federalism
Among many agendas, the Philippine President is pushing his goal to federalize the country in less than two years. The draft amending the constitution of making a federal formation is now being worked on by several representatives of the house.
State of Negros Island V.S. Negros Island Region
President Duterte has recently demolished the Negros Island Region (NIR), however, Negros Occidental Third Representative Alfredo Benitez assured Negrense that the island of Negros will be included in the federal state draft (as his proposal).
“We are working on it now,” the Benitez said.
Working on the draft for the federal formation includes the technical working groups (TWG) of:
- TWG 1 – headed by Davao Oriental First District Representative Corazon Nuñez-Malanyaon will prepare the provisions on the executive and legislative (Articles VI and VII), the new article on federal and regional powers, numbers of states, and the local government and taxation/allocation of resources (Article X)
- TWG 2 – headed by Capiz Second District Representative Fredenil Castro will work on the bill of rights (Article III), citizenship (Article IV), suffrage (Article V), judiciary (Article VIII), and the amendments or revisions (Article XVII)
- TWG 3 – headed by Negros Occidental Third Representative Alfredo Benitez for preamble, national territory (Article I), declaration of principles and state policies (Article II), general provisions (Article XVI), and transitory provisions (Article XVIII)
- TWG 4 – headed by Leyte Third District Representative Vicente Veloso will work on the national economy and patrimony (Article XII), social justice, labor and others (Article XIII), education, science and others (Article XIV), new article on the bill of duties, accountability of public officials (Article XI), and family (Article XV)
