VideosAutonomy&Federalism-Perspective from a former parliamentarian by Hon. Cesar A. Virata

Autonomy&Federalism | June 15, 2017 | UP Law, Diliman, Quezon City
Former Prime Minister Virata expressed his concern on the current progress of the shift of Federalism. He proposed a joint voting session for the houses of the congress, since if they would vote separately, a very few number of Senators (8) could derail the long-awaited shift to Federalism, which he considers as “complete governance”.

As a leading expert in finance, he argued that reducing the share of the Federal Government in the annual budget would be problematic, as the Federal States could only provide basic social services, with most of them still underdeveloped to cover more advanced and intensive delivery of social services. PM Virata also mentioned that even before the adoption of Federalism, the Federal Government should prepare a large contingency fund, as it would continue the provision of costly social services, like pensions from GSIS and SSS.