Support for the shift to a Federal form of government is coming up big at last in Metro Manila.
Up to 25,000 delegates are expected to gather on Saturday at the Quezon Memorial Circle at the vanguard of a movement pushing for a Federal form of government to “right the historical inequities and injustice that have been perpetuated in a unitary and highly centralized government.”
IConform-Federal Phils., which made the announcment, is a coalition of diverse multisectoral groups headed by long-time Federal advocate, Secretary Raul L. Lambino, who is the group’s lead convenor.
“This is clearly a choice of our long-suffering people. We can no longer delay its coming,” Lambino said as the ranks of IConform-Federal Phils. begin to swell with multisectoral support.
“It is because our entire experience with a highly centralized system has created two nations in our country—a nation of the ‘haves,’ which is the super-rich tip of the economic pyramid, and a nation of the ‘have-nots,’ which is its impoverished base that has suffered from decades of government inaction and neglect,” Lambino said.
“The shift to a Federal form is about making the lives of millions of Filipinos better,” Lambino said.
IConform-Federal Phils. predicts that at the pace it is gathering mass support for the Federal form, the movement will reach a critical peak faster than could be expected because, it said, “people who have welcomed change are going to embrace it, too.” Opponents of Federalism, IConform-Federal Phils. said in a statement, have resorted to empty sloganeering trying to defend the economic and political infrastructure of the old elite.
“We see their ranks, and they are the defenders of the privileged and the wealthy,” the movement said.
The two known authorities in the proposed shift away from the unitary system, former Chief Justice Reynato Puno and former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr., have been invited to speak at Saturday’s rally. Also expected to share the stage with them are members of Congress and local officials, from governors to city mayors, as speakers during the rally.
Lambino also pointed out the other benefits under a Federal format. He said at least five major Federal states could be created to make them economically viable and to encourage wider competition for electoral positions, thus dampening ambitions of family political dynasties.
He said that, with fewer Federal states, a smoother but competitive redistribution of economic and political power within the nation could be followed in the transition period.
Turning his attention to Saturday’s rally, he said the diverse sectoral groups are united by the belief that a decentralized system would provide solutions to the Muslims’ historical aspirations and preserve cultural diversity while encouraging competition within a state and among the existing states for excellent economic performance.
IConform-Federal Phils., he said, also believes in President Duterte’s assertion that the nearly half-century war in Mindanao could be prevented from escalating by the proposed Bangsamoro basic law and a Federal government that would strengthen Muslim autonomy.
The rush in the approval of Dengvaxia, a vaccine still in trial stage but used in a mass-vaccination program of the previous government, exposing thousands of Filipino children to risk of death, could be avoided in a Federal form of government, Lambino further said.
The issue could have been best addressed by the local regional health departments in a Federal state, Lambino said, instead of the national health agency that has at times, become insensitive to the realities on the ground.
Lambino said the proposed Federal government will unleash the potentials of the states to raise the standard of living, provide more jobs, ensure proper delivery of basic services, maintain law and order, promote quality education and secure for the people inclusive growth in the countryside.
Based on the outcome of last year’s series of federalism fora held nationwide and launched by various groups led by the administration party PDP Laban and the Centrist Democrats Philippines, Lambino said there is a popular acceptance of the proposed shift.
The other invited speakers are Gov. Ryan Singson of Ilocos Sur, president of the League of Provinces; Gov. Migs Villafuerte of Camarines Sur; Mayor Ed Pamintuan of Angeles City, president of the League of Cities of the Philippines; Secretary Martin Andanar of Presidential Communications Operations Office; Undersecretary Astra Naik of OWWA; Department of Agriculture Undersecretary Ranibai Dilangalen, representing the Muslim community; Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Director Jose Bong Suntay; Lito Lorenzana; and National Youth Commission Chairman Aiza Seguerra.