President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s assumption to power served as an impetus for the prioritization of a host of socioeconomic and political reforms—one of which is the proposal to shift from unitary to federal government. The head of state has been openly advocating for such a move—calling for support from policymakers in amending the 1987 Constitution to pave the way for a “Federal Republic of the Philippines.” President Duterte views federalism as a means to comprehensively address social unrest in Mindanao and to fully tap regional growth potentials (Miral, 2017).

Read more: Labor and Employment Policies in the context of Federalism: Learnings for the Philippines