Nene Pimentel Talked About Federalism in CDO, Gained Support from the City Council

11 Oct Nene Pimentel Talked About Federalism in CDO, Gained Support from the City Council

Last October 10, Monday, a forum “Federalizing the Philippines” was held in a hotel in Cagayan de Oro attended by Vice Mayor Joaquin Raineir Uy and several members of the Cagayan de Oro City Council. Former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel was present in the forum speaking before hundreds of Kagay-anons about federalism.

“They (people) should discern first before approving it,” said Pimentel, founder of the political party Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), adding that the Filipinos should be satisfactorily informed on federalism before they totally accept the proposal. However, he then noted that pushing for the system change to federalism “should not be interpreted as a partisan [and political] approach to the solution of the problems of the nation.” This proposed change is not for the good of the party or to anyone else but for the entire Filipino people as according to Pimentel.

“We are not advocating that we copy the U.S. model, the Malaysian model, the Indian model, the Scandinavian model,” said Pimentel. He then added that it would be better for the people of the Philippines to learn from other countries who have already practiced and been practicing the federal form of government to determine what works and what doesn’t when brought in the Philippine setting.

According to Uy, he and his colleagues are in favor of the proposal of changing the system of government to federalism. City Councilor George Goking then added that it’s about time that the Philippines should adopt the said new system for the wealth of the country to be equally distributed to the regions and localize the political power.

Goking said that with Metro Manila remaining as the center of power, resources from other parts of the country were drawn to the National Capital region leaving only breadcrumbs to Visayas and Mindanao. “Federalism is the best for us. Countries with the same form of government are progressive.”

Source: Sun.Star