Federalism Movement to be Launched in Cebu on Monday, Aug. 22

A group of people from all walks of life who are supporting President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s (PRRD) advocacy on federal system of government will launch its movement in Cebu on August 22.

Hugpong Federal Movement of the Philippines (HFMP) – Visayas Region vice chair Erwin Tindoc said Cebu is a critical area to get mass-based support for PRRD’s advocacy on federalism.

Tindoc said President Duterte won a landslide victory in Cebu with over a million votes which is hoped to translate to avid support to his advocacy to change the current system of government to federalism.

Federalism is defined as a system of government where powers are distributed between the central and regional governments.

“We expect over 3,000 crowd to flock to the launching on Monday,” said Tindoc whose group has yet to finalize the venue for the afternoon launching.

The HFMP-Visayas has already started its advocacy in Negros Island Region (NIR) led by Professor Reynaldo Llena, the NIR regional director of the HFMP-Visayas while pockets of advocacies were already done in some parts of the Visayas like in Iloilo and Leyte.

“Only in a federal system of government can we truly expect change to happen,” said Llena, a retired professor in New York who came back to the Philippines after 25 years in the United States.

Llena also explained the advantages of federalism which he captured in a PRRD acronym which stands for “Power Sharing,” “Resource Sharing,” “Respect For All,” and “Development For All.”

Under a federal system, Llena said state governments will have a wider revenue share at 70 percent while the central or federal government will only get 30 percent which under the present system is reversed.

He also added that state governments will also have its own executive, legislative and judiciary branches giving them more leeway in providing swift actions to immediate problems.

“State governments will now pass its own laws suitable to its needs,” said Llena.

President Duterte expressed the importance of federalism to address real development in the countryside and end the decades of conflict in Mindanao giving state or local governments more autonomy to decide.

A shift to a federal system is a centerpiece of the President Duterte’s presidential campaign. (mbcn/fcr/PIA7)