NEDA VI slates first regional confab on decentralization and federalism

The issuance of EO 453 on August 19, 2005, creating a Consultative Commission to Propose the Revision of the 1987 Constitution in Consultation with Various Sectors of Society, sets the stage for a change in certain provisions of the 1987 Constitution, particularly the shift from presidential unitary system to a parliamentary federal system of government and refocusing of economic policies in the Constitution to match the country’s vision for global competitiveness.  Such a move is seen to enhance the decentralization process the Philippines has been implementing for more than a decade now.
 
To generate better understanding on decentralization, as well as, inputs to the coming constitutional change, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) VI will be holding the “1st Regional Conference on Decentralization” on October 24-25, 2005 at Iloilo Grand Hotel, Iloilo City.  A total of 130 participants are expected to attend the conference, comprising of provincial governors and mayors of highly urbanized and component cities, presidents of mayors’ leagues, regional directors of line agencies, executive directors of the non-government organizations and people’s organizations, as well as, professional groups, faculties and student leaders and university editors.

Crucial to the discussion will be: (1) options for form, structures to be adopted by a federal government, and (2) delineation of roles and responsibilities of the region/state and the federal government in areas of fiscal, political and administrative management.  In order to shed light on federalism and learn from the experience of countries under a federal system of government, NEDA VI, with assistance from a GTZ-assisted project, has invited resource persons from Germany, Canada and Australia.  Also, a resource person from the Office of the President will talk on highlights of decentralization, salient points of constitutional change and expectations on parliamentary-federalism for the Philippines.

The conference outputs will be forwarded to the Constitutional Commission, Senate, House of Representatives and the Office of the President for their consideration.

This two-day activity is sponsored by the Decentralized Planning Structures Project (DPSP), a technical cooperation between the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and NEDA VI.