Charter change will not help poor – lawmaker

Amending the 1987 Constitution to implement federalism— a system wherein regions will be self-governing under a federal government—will not solve widespread poverty, a lawmaker said Wednesday.

Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque issued the statement in light of the filing of Davao del Norte Pantaleon Alvarez’s House Resolution No. 1 that seeks to revise the 1987 Constitution through Constitutional Convention (ConCon) composed of regionally elected and appointed delegates. In his proposal, Alvarez claimed that federalism “will make the form of government more responsive to the needs of the nation.”