Gonzales
With over 200 village officials and local Interior officials in attendance, the Department of Interior and Local Government in Central Visayas (DILG-7) kicked off on Saturday the discussions on the proposed federal system of government at the region’s barangay level.
DILG Cebu Provincial Director Jerome Gonzales said this was necessary to prepare the barangays should the proposed change in government push through.
“If this pushes through, if this is legislated, a plebiscite will decide. We don’t want that day to come without the barangays knowing what (federalism) is,” he told Cebu Daily News at the sidelines of the DILG’s regional forum on federalism at a hotel in Cebu City.
Present during the forum were more than 200 DILG officers as well presidents of Liga ng mga Barangay from towns and cities in Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor.
Gonzales clarified that the DILG was not specifically advocating for federalism and was only providing venues where it can be discussed.
“The role sa DILG is to stir up discussions at the barangay level,” he said.
Gonzales said the forum was only meant to open up more discussions at the grassroots level as the league presidents were expected to echo what they learned to their constituents.
He added that DILG officers in the region, after having undergone a similar forum last month, were also tasked to lead discussions on federalism at the barangay level.
Among the national government officials present were Interior Undersecretaries Emily Padilla and John Catriciones as well as Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) Secretary Guiling Mamondiong.
President Rodrigo Duterte has been publicly advocating for a federal government system in the Philippines, going around the country beginning late 2014 and even before he bared plans to vie for the presidency.
On several occasions, Duterte said this change would help facilitate the better delivery of services to Filipinos and that it was the only way to bring peace to the country, particularly in the strife-torn Mindanao.
Overhauling the system of government would require charter change.
In May 2016, then president-elect Duterte announced that a plebiscite on the proposed replacement of the unitary form of government with a federal one will be held in two years.
Meanwhile, two movements supporting the federal form of government and ending the illegal drugs in the country were also launched yesterday at Cebu Provincial Capitol’s Social Hall.
The People’s National Movement for Federalism (PNAMFED) and Mamamayan Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga (Masamasid) were launched by the Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte (MRRD) group based in Cebu.
MRRD chairman Jun Saliente said PNAMFED will help raise awareness to the grassroots what a federal form of government is all about, particularly on how it democratizes governance, with both economic and political powers going to be shared by the national government and state or the regional government.
Masamasid, on the other hand, will fully support the Duterte administration’s war on drugs, with projects that would include the rehabilitation of drug surrenderers and their full reintegration into their communities.
President Duterte and Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Ismael Sueno were expected as guests, complete with a tarpaulin welcoming the two officials to the event. Both, however, were not present.