FEDERALISM IN HIS MIND

Why Rody is getting huge support in campaign for federalism
By CHARLES RAYMOND A. MAXEY
MORE and more individuals and groups have joined the long journey towards federalism, with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte—the new captain of the ship—navigating and pushing for its realization.
Never before has the campaign on federalism created this much noise. Never before has the advocacy to shift from the Presidential Unitary form of government to the Federal Parliamentary form solicited such awareness
From politicians to professionals, the business sector to students and even to the ordinary people, Mayor Duterte and his federalism advocacy are getting mass support.
“It is indeed surprising that federalism is acceptable even in Metro Manila and Luzon,” says Peter Laviña, a former Davao City councilor who is now volunteering for Duterte’s advocacy.
When Duterte launched his campaign during the Mindanao Leaders’ Summit on Federalism in Davao City late last year, he was greeted with an overwhelming support that he set out on a nationwide, island-hopping drive to make people understand the importance of having a federal form of government.
The “Listening Tour,” as the information campaign is called, has taken the colorful local chief executive to many places in Mindanao, Visayas and Luzon.
Laviña said everywhere Duterte goes, he is being mobbed by people like a rock star.
And everywhere the ListeningTour takes him, Duterte is being urged to run for President in the 2016 elections as people want him to save the country from its suffering.
To Duterte, there’s no better solution for an ailing country than a shift to a federal form of government. He also sees federalism as the best fallback position for the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), which is facing rejection in Congress in the wake of the tragic Mamasapano encounter.
During the formal opening of the 78th Araw ng Davao celebration at Rizal Park Tuesday night, Duterte reiterated his stand against war.
“We cannot afford a war because we cannot kill our own people,” Duterte said. “If you have hatred against Muslim, you have to rise above it and embrace your brother.”
Just last week, popular movie actor Robin Padilla was in Davao City to convince Duterte to join the Presidential derby in 2016 and pledged full support should the mayor decides to throw his hat into the ring.
 Padilla, who was joined in the trip by elder brother Rommel and his director Enzo Williams, even called Duterte the modern-day Lapu-Lapu, the ruler of Mactan who resisted Spaniards colonization.
Duterte said he is not the first leader to advocate federalism.
“I don’t plagiarize anything. I just adopt a solution,” he said of federalism, whose past advocates include former Cagayan de Oro mayor Reuben Canoy and former Senator Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel.
Laviña, who is assigned in the Mindanao operations, said Duterte has gone to Butuan, Zamboanga City, Dapitan and Dipolog in Mindanao; Cebu, Dumaguete, Iloilo and Ormoc in Visayas; and Palawan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Pampanga and Metro Manila in Luzon.
After the Ormoc sojourn, Duterte was in Manila just days ago to speak before the Rotarians before proceeding to Bacolod to address a multi-sectoral forum.
The mayor will resume his federalism campaign in Cebu, Bohol, Ozamiz, Oroquieta, Iligan City, Tagyatay, Bukidnon, Quezon Province and Cagayan de Oro in the next two months.
“He continues to receive invitations from all over the country for various speaking activities,” Laviña said.
Despite repeated calls for him to seek the presidency, Duterte has continually rejected such proposal, saying he has no money and that he is too old for the job.
Somewhere in the city, there used to be a signboard with a message written in bold letters that definitely express the sentiments of the majority of the people of Davao.
The signboard had long been removed, but the message was already delivered.
RUN RODY RUN.