Federalism not for Duterte, says Pimentel

BAGUIO CITY—“Federalism is not for President Duterte” and should not be confused with initiatives to amend or revise the 1987 Constitution, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said here on Friday.

Pimentel made the assertion during a Senate consultation on Charter change (Cha-cha) after groups expressed concern that revising the Constitution would allow Mr. Duterte and his allies to stay in power beyond their terms.

‘Nonexistent ghosts’

The Student Council Alliance of the Philippines, the Cordillera Peoples Alliance, the Free Legal Assistance Group and the Diocese of Baguio opposed Charter change, believing it would be used to legitimize a dictatorship.

“Don’t be afraid of nonexistent ghosts,” Pimentel said, describing the various proposals for federalism as informal ideas.

He said people should wait for a formal draft to be presented and discussed in Congress that “you may criticize.”

“One of the reasons some of you resist all Charter change proposals is the element of mistrust, which has begun to cloud public appreciation of proposed Charter amendments,” he said.

These proposals included the setting up of a federal government, said Sen. Panfilo Lacson, who joined the consultation with Senators Francis Pangilinan, Nancy Binay and Bam Aquino IV.

“Our party [administration party PDP-Laban] has been advocating federalism since 1982. President Duterte was still in shorts then. So this advocacy is not about him,” Pimentel said.

It is based on a structural analysis of the county that says the country should convert certain laws into “constitutional concepts” so that certain services could be demanded by the benefiting sector, he said.

Term limits

But Lacson said the Charter initiatives should have begun with the draft constitutional changes being hammered out by a consultative committee formed by Malacañang instead of allowing lawmakers to publicly discuss their proposals.

“They have even been very vocal about removing term limits and suspending the elections which would mean an extension of their terms, and that created the distrust,” he said. —VINCENT CABREZA