President Duterte said the time for the country’s shift to federal government has come, adding that the unitary form of government was only good at the time that the country was developing as a nation.
Since his presidential campaign, Duterte has been pushing for federalism, which he said will help achieve peace in Mindanao and spur economic development throughout the country in all regions and not just in “imperial” Manila.
Duterte’s consultative committee tasked to review the 1987 Constitution is also 95-percent to 98-percent done with its draft federal Constitution, which they will be submitting on July 9 to the President, the committee’s self-imposed deadline. This is to give time for the President to review the draft before his State of the Nation Address on July 23.
Duterte also noted in his speech on Saturday night that history then did not mind the struggles of both Christians and Muslims in Mindanao and the Moro people.
“We have to move away from the unitary form of government, which has been in existence or set up originally by Spaniards. It has always been a strong central government,” he said during a speech before Filipino Muslims during the 2018 Eid’l Fitr celebration at the SMX Convention Center in Davao.
He noted that it is also time for Filipinos to understand that the people in Mindanao have been victims of injustice.
“I am for federalism. I am for peace,” he said.
Mindanao Development Authority Chairman Datu Abul Khayr Alonto also expressed his support for the President’s campaign promise for the country to shift to federalism.
“Nevertheless, it is acknowledged by all groups and experts in peace process that the unitary state and unitary constitution can never fully address the demands and the aspirations of the Bangsamoro, which is sovereignty-based,” he said.
Alonto said the country has also witnessed the President’s political will in pursuing the passage of the Bangsamoro basic law (BBL) in Congress minus the unconstitutional provisions which the President cited in his previous pronouncements.
Duterte also vowed to pass BBL during his term and hoped that Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Founding Chairman Nur Misuari can join the talks.
“So that if there are corrections or maybe additions, or provisions that would not sit well with Tausug and the rest of southern part of Mindanao, the maybe we can realize altogether the friction of the [armed Muslim guerrilla groups] and the rest of Mindanao,” he said. The President said it is very important that they get together and pass BBL so as to prevent the entry of terrorist groups.
“If, per chance, nothing really works out here in BBL, then give us time because I do not want to fight,” he said. “I do not wage a war against my own countrymen.”
Both houses of Congress have passed their own versions of BBL after the President certified the bill as urgent.
The bill seeks to advance the creation of the new Bangsamoro region to replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao in a bid to address the diverse needs of the Bangsamoro people and all Mindanao communities to achieve lasting peace for the island group and the country as a whole.