Nationwide awareness on federalism has risen to 30 percent but time is running incredibly short on whether or not it will be subjected to a plebiscite on May 2019.
“We are down to only 555 days before the moment of reckoning,” lawyer Aristeo Albay, chairman of the Davao-based Kilusang Pederal sa Pagbabago, told the Kapehan sa Davao at the SM Ecoland on Monday.
KPP technical consultant Architect Florencio Gavino lamented the lack of urgency on both the House of Representatives and the Senate in legislating a shift to federalism via a nationwide plebiscite.
“We have a two-thirds majority in the House of Represenatives but at least 16 of 23 senators are certain to reject a shift to federalism,” he said.
Albay said the alternative, which actually took off in the Calabarzon area is a ‘people’s initiative’ that would bring together stakeholders in pushing for the fast-tracking of federalism. “And if we can convince the armed forces of the Philippines, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the New Peoples Army to support the initiative, there is a chance we may be able to push this through.”
The two KPP officials said another alternative was through a revolutionary government reminiscent of the Cory Aquino-led government that paved the way for the 1987 Constitutional Convention.
At the same time, both KPP officials expressed support to the Bangsa Moro Basic Law, saying “the BBL actually espoused a form of federalism that is contained in Mindanao.”
They described as serious the inability of both houses of Congress to adopt a new form of government by legislative acts.
“Things are changing,” said Albay, adding that the ‘extractive policies’ of the oligarchy are slowly but surely being eroded by the ‘inclusive practices’ promised by a federal form of government.
Gavino said the shift to federalism is a shift to full democracy. “Give us federalism or give us death,” he said.
The KPP roadmap envisioned President Duterte as instructing the Department of Interior and Local Government to undertake massive information drive on the federal system and federal form of government for the period January 2017 to January 2019.
The roadmap also envisions a plebiscite on the proposed federal-parliamentary constitution to be synchronized with the 2019 May elections
