Federal shift to cost PHP20bn – DILG official

• A shift to a federal system of government could incur for the country an additional cost of PHP20bn, an official of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) said.
• Jonathan Malaya, DILG spokesperson, said their computation pegs the shift to only around PHP20bn – a figure higher by more than PHP6bn compared to the consultative committee (Concom)’s estimate of only PHP13.54bn, but lower than the estimate of up to PHP253bn cited by Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia last week.
• “The way we see it, economic managers do not oppose a shift to federalism. They support federalism but would want to focus on preparing the economic fundamentals for federalism to be fully implemented. This includes infrastructure and real dispersed regional development,” he pointed out.
• Meanwhile, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the country’s transition to federalism should not take 15 years as recommended by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
• “Fifteen years is too long to have a change in government… I disagree with the projection. If it takes that long, it won’t happen anymore. It is only the President who is very keen on federalism,” Diokno told reporters.
• Earlier, NEDA said the shift to federalism should be carried out in five phases over a 15-year period to prevent disruption to the country’s economic growth. It also warned that the transition could cost the government as much as PHP243.5bn every year due to the implementation of the proposed Equalization Fund and the need to put up additional offices in the federated regions.

External Link: https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2018/09/03/1848180/federal-shift-cost-p20-billion-dilg-official