Sotto sees no need to rush proposed shift to federal gov’t

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said there is no need to rush the proposed shift to a federal government as the Bangsamoro Organic Law has yet to be enforced.

Speaking in an interview over ANC on Thursday, Sotto said the government should instead focus on the implementation of the newly signed Bangsamoro law.

“We will monitor closely how it will work, the Bangsamoro organic act. It could be a model for the federalism proposal… it’s a region of its own, that’s why we don’t really need to prioritize the federalism at this point when we have a good experiment,” Sotto said.

The House of Representatives has already approved a joint resolution calling on both houses of Congress to convene into a Constituent Assembly (Con-ass), one of the three ways to amend the 1987 Constitution.

READ: House votes to convene Con-ass

The joint resolution, however, remains pending at the committee level at the Senate.

President Rodrigo Duterte has been pushing for a shift to federalism, which he claimed would speed up development outside Metro Manila. /ee

READ: Only federalism will bring lasting peace, says Duterte