CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- The Pampanga Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc. (PamCham) will have Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte as keynote speaker on the group’s 49th General Membership Meeting and induction of new members today, Monday, at Max’s Restaurant in Villa Del Sol here.

During the chamber gathering slated to start at 11:30 a.m., Duterte is expected to talk about federalism as part of his “listening tour.”

The Davao City mayor, a potential presidential candidate in 2016, has been pushing for federalism to solve the country’s lingering problems.

“Federalism is the only solution that would address not just the problem on insurgency in Mindanao but also the long-deplored wealth sharing disparity between Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao,” Duterte had said in his tours.

Duterte furthers that due to the diverse ethnic backgrounds and geographical characteristics of the Philippines, the “centralization of power in Metro Manila has centralized corruption and prevented the growth of the regions, left with very little share of the national wealth.”

Duterte, who has expressed disinterest in the presidential post, says that shifting from democracy to federalism will result to participatory governance that will be beneficial to people. (JTD/Sun.Star Pampanga)

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