“‘BALIK Probinsya’ to benefit education,” one of The Manila Times’ headline stories on May 3, quoted Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go in a report by Javier Ismael. It was in the 1998 presidential elections when former Cebu governor Emilio “Lito” Osmeña campaigned for rural development under his political party Probinsya Muna Development Initiative. The problem, however, may not lie in contradicting structure between unitary and federal but in the structural sickness of the political economy driven by neoliberal ideology. The new normal is dealt with vis-à-vis the political economy critical to neoliberalism. If we really want to do Balik Probinsya, why did the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino–Lakas ng Bayan federalism draft dilute Article II Section 21 of the 1987 Constitution?

Source: Manila Times May 05, 2020 20:37 UTC