Senator Juan Edgardo ‘Sonny’ Angara is in Bacolod City today, March 2, to address 1,700 barangay captains from Iloilo at their general assembly at the SMX Convention Center at SM City Bacolod.

In a statement forwarded to members of local media yesterday, the senator is currently pushing for reforms to ensure “meaningful [and] equitable distribution of resources and powers” with regard to “Charter Change,” which is intended to shift the country to a federal form of government.

“While the wheels of ‘Charter Change’ have already started to turn, there are alternative paths of reform worth pursuing,” he explained. “We can still achieve the same goals of local autonomy and proper allocation of collective resources — perhaps in an even more expeditious manner.”

Despite hearings proposing increases to the internal revenue allotment for local government units, with federalism supporters claiming it would fulfill President Rodrigo Duterte’s goal of ensuring equitable regional growth and countryside development, Angara said the proposed federal government still had a long way to go in the legislative process.

He noted, a substantial amendment would still be required, along with the possible overhaul of the 1987 Constitution, which implemented the current unitary form of government.

According to the lawmaker, a quick solution to ending the country’s dependence on Manila could be reforming RA 7160, or the Local Government Code (LGC), which has remained relatively unchanged over the last two and a half decades.

He said the LGC already states different political subdivisions of the country should “enjoy genuine and meaningful autonomy to enable them to attain their fullest development as self-reliant communities.”

The law, Angara added, also states, “There shall be an effective allocation among the different [local government units] of their respective powers, functions, responsibilities and resources.”

“While these broad pronouncements are already outlined in the [LGC], it appears we need to make some tweaks in the policy details so that the aspirations for local autonomy actually becomes a reality for all Filipinos,” the senator explained./DGB, WDJ