Malacanang admitted on Thursday the Duterte administration has to work harder in order to get support from the public on federalism.

This was after a Social Weather Stations (SWS) latest survey, showing only one in four Filipinos are aware of the federal system of government and only 37 percent have expressed support on it.

"Well apparently, the information drive is not enough. We’ll need to work harder given that the shift to federalism is the cornerstone of the Duterte administration," said Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque in a press briefing.

He said the government should exert more effort in "popularizing" the need to shift to a federal form of government, its advantages to the people, and its effect on their everyday lives.

Once the Constitutional Commission is finished preparing with its proposal on the possible changes in the 1987 Constitution, Roque said the next phase would be the information dissemination regarding federalism.

Duterte has created the ConCom, headed by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, to come up with a proposal for a federal form of government.

The first quarter SWS on March 23-27 found that 25 percent of Filipino adults nationwide said they know about the federal system of government, while 75 percent learned about it only during the survey.

Of the 1,200 respondents, 37 percent agree with the federal system of government, and 29 percent disagree with it, while 34 percent were undecided about the matter. Celerina Monte/DMS