Thursday, July 24, 2008 Pimentel woos LGU execs into federalism proposal
SENATE minority leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. wooed local government executives in Misamis Occidental with increased internal revenue allocation (IRA) shares in an effort to win support to his proposed shift to a federal form of government.
In Cagayan de Oro, the Mindanaoan legislator was joined Wednesday by Misamis Oriental Governor Oscar Moreno and other local officials in echoing the same line.
Pimentel said that under his proposal, as contained in Senate Resolution No. 10, the state and local government units shall corner 80 percent of government revenues while 20 percent will remain with the national government.
This reform in fiscal sharing, he explained, is a result of the transfer of a large bulk of power and governance responsibility from the central to states and local governments.
Based on a simulation, Pimentel said it is expected that IRA shares of local governments will increased by 40 percent under this setup.
"So with federalism, local governments have nothing to lose but more to gain," Pimentel said, to the applause of a jampacked audience mostly officials and employees from the provincial down to barangay governments.
Former vice-mayor Elvira D. Tan said the IRA increase argument is a sure drawer of supporters to the initiative from the ranks of local government executives.
The July 21 forum kicked off Pimentel's provincial roadshows aimed at drumming up support for an initiative to amend the Constitution to reform the country's framework of political administration.
These sorties, bannered "Federalism: The Key to Rural Development," are expected to usher in a more vigorous local discussion about the federalism proposal.
So far, federalism roadshows were scheduled in Iligan, Cagayan de Oro and Davao cities in Mindanao, and Cebu in the Visayas.
The roadshows are organized by the League of Provinces of the Philippines, which earlier expressed support behind the federalism proposal.
Misamis Occidental Governor Loreto Ocampos, also LPP president, told forum participants that "the federalization of the republic is long overdue."
"The adoption of a federal system will address the concerns of the people of Mindanao and other areas of the country that their respective development efforts are being thwarted by the bias shown by Manila-based bureaucrats in favor of what is popularly called 'imperial Manila," Pimentel said.
Senate Resolution No. 10 calls for the convening of Congress into a constituent assembly to tackle the proposed charter amendments, comprising of some 18 revisions to existing provisions and two additions.
Pimentel said that while he favors a constitutional convention "because it is more democratic," he however took issue of its costliness and the predictability of when it can be able to complete its task.
He clarified that in a constituent assembly envisioned by Resolution No. 10, the House and the Senate shall convene separately and then harmonizes their respective versions through a bicameral body.
But Pimentel himself recognizes that the currently low public approval rating of Congress as "an underside" to the constituent assembly route to charter change to pave the way for federalism.
"It's up to the people, at least we have it started," he said. (Ryan D. Rosauro)
