Quezon City Rep. Winnie Castelo called on all candidates for next month’s barangay elections to make the proposed shift to a federal system an issue in the campaign.
“The barangay elections provide an opportunity, limited as it may be, for the candidates to educate the electorate about President Rodrigo Duterte’s cornerstone program to change the country’s system of government so that a balanced economic development can be achieved and government can be more effective and efficient in the delivery of services to the people,” Castelo said.
Castelo added that it is also an opportunity for aspiring leaders at the grassroots level — the first line of governance closest to the people — to make known where they stand on such a vital initiative of the Duterte administration.
Castelo also called on the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and LGUs to help by providing candidates with information about federalism.
“With more than a million aspirants running for posts in the country’s 42,026 barangays, that’s more than a million individuals talking about federalism and how the people—especially in the provinces—can benefit from it,” Castelo noted.
With more than a million aspirants running for posts in the country’s 42,026 barangays, that’s more than a million individuals talking about federalism.
He said that while the details of the proposed federal system are still to be ironed out, the concept of federalism has already been widely disseminated in the last year and a half through the information campaigns conducted by the DILG and the various groups supporting federalism.
“The basics are already there and easy to explain and understand,” Castelo likewise said, noting that most incumbent local officials—including barangay officials—as well as those belonging to non-government, faith-based and civil society organizations have either attended or conducted seminars on federalism.
There’s also a lot of information in mainstream media and the Internet that candidates can access to learn about the basics of federalism, he added.