Lorenzana adds voice to Duterte execs against federalism, says PH ‘not ready’
DEFENSE Secretary Delfin Lorenzana joined the growing number of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet secretaries who expressed reservations about the Philippines shift to a federal form of government, saying that the country was “not ready.”
“We are not yet ready because we need maybe more education to the people for them to understand what [federalism]is for,” Lorenzana told reporters in a press briefing late Thursday.
He is the fourth Cabinet member to speak up against federalism following Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.
Dominguez, in a Senate finance committee hearing on Wednesday, said the shift to a federal government could lead to a fiscal nightmare.
Pernia said that financing a federal form of government may raise the fiscal deficit to six percent.
Lorenzana’s statement also came after Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque Jr. claimed that 100 percent of the Cabinet, including him, agree with the shift. DEMPSEY REYES
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