Former Secretary of National Defense and senatorial candidate Gilbert ‘Gibo’ Teodoro said that building the capacity of local government units (LGUs) is the first step towards Federalism.
“For me, that’s (Federalism) where we are heading since we are an archipelago. If you want to develop, you have to devolve power, resources in different communities, because in the Philippines, situations are not the same in different areas,” Gibo Teodoro said in a one-on-one interview with Toni Gonzaga on YouTube talk show ‘Toni Talks’.
Gibo Teodoro said that instead of focusing the time and resources of the Congress in debating whether to shift to Federalism or not, a better approach is to start building the foundations for Federalism.
“So, the process I see is reverse,” the former Tarlac congressman and 1989 Bar topnotcher said. “We cannot legislate and federalize overnight where the component units are not prepared,” he said
Gibo Teodoro said that the government should start strengthening the component units of the future federated state that would be able stand on its own.
