The Institute for Autonomy and Governance (IAG) and the Congressional Policy and Budget Research Department (CPBRD) launched Tuesday, January 23, at the House of Representatives in Quezon City their latest research entitled “Drawing Lessons for the Creation of Regional Governments under a Federal Setup: Case Study on the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao”.

 

The research commissioned by IAG and conducted by CPBRD looked into the socio-economic conditions of the ARMM, key issues on the assignment of powers, fiscal autonomy issues and key issues on intergovernmental relations, from which major insights for creating regional governments were generated.

 

“The ARMM is the only political entity in the country that approximates a state under a federal system. As the Philippines seriously considers shifting the country’s political system from unitary to federal, it is logical and useful to take a hard look at the ARMM , see what works or not, in order to draw lessons and insights for the drafters of the Federal Constitution for the Philippines and for the citizenry who will eventually ratify it,” says IAG Executive Director Benedicto Bacani in his foreword to the book.

 

The case study, Bacani adds, hopes “to develop a ‘federal culture’ among public leaders and citizens where the center freely lets go of powers and resources to the regions which in turn demonstrates the commitment to develop their capacities for self-governance.”

 

Printed copies of the book are now available (free for pickup) at the IAG office in Cotabato City.