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Eleven senators have presented a joint resolution seeking to amend
the Constitution by replacing our present unitary system of
government with a federal system. It should be passed by the Senate.
Then it should also be passed by the House of Representatives.
This change is vital for our Republic.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
filed Joint Resolution No. 10 proposing the shift from a
presidential to a parliamentary-federal system of government. The
co-authors are Senate President Manuel Villar Jr., Senators Edgardo
Angara, Pia Cayetano, Juan Ponce Enrile, Francis Escudero, Jose
“Jinggoy” Estrada, Gregorio Honasan, Panfilo Lacson, Francis
Pangilinan and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr.
For years Pimentel has advocated a federal
system. He and other proponents of federalism – with its
concomitant, decentralization – contend that it would drastically
speed up the development of the whole country as a result of new
developmental impulses in the regions where local political,
economic and civic leaders would assume new powers and
responsibilities to make their localities progress.
The regions and provinces – formed into states
just as in the USA and in Malaysia — would enjoy substantial
autonomy. The federal system would most likely also melt away much
of the causes of the Moro rebellion in Mindanao. There, rebel groups
have been fighting to decouple the “Bangsamoro” (or the Moro
nation) from the Philippines precisely because they want to be
autonomous.
The people and leaders of the Autonomous Region
in Muslim Mindanao have been complaining that their autonomy is
diluted by the national government’s power to withhold budgets and
control the work of the ARMM’s government, and this makes the
region’s governors spend their time pleading with Malacañang for
funds and approval of their actions and decisions. To a lesser
degree, most other governors have to kowtow to the Palace to be
treated well.
The signing of the peace agreement between the
Philippine government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has been
stalled. This could cause new fighting to erupt in Mindanao. The
agreement can only be formally signed by the government side after
Charter amendments have been made, including the establishment of
the federal system, because some of the terms in the agreement are
not allowed under the present Constitution.
The Pimentel joint resolution proposes the
creation of a federal Bangsamoro state for the country’s Muslim
minority.
Other federal states that would be formed are
Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Bicol-Southern Tagalog,
Mindoro-Palawan-Romblon-Marinduque, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas,
Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao and Southern Mindanao. Metro
Manila would be made a federal administrative region like the US
capital, Washington, D.C., and India’s capital, New Delhi.
We hope this—and other charter changes
essential to improving our system and governance—are made.
Those who fear Cha-cha will lead to the
extension of President Gloria Arroyo’s term as president should
take a leaf from Sen. Pimentel. Despite his passion for federalism,
he turned against any moves to amend the Charter these past three
years precisely because of the possibility that Cha-cha would be
used by Mrs. Arroyo’s allies to prolong her stay in office. Now,
Pimentel gives the assurance that “the 2010 presidential elections
will proceed as scheduled. There will be no extension or diminution
of the terms of elected officials.”
Yes to the cheap medicines bill
In the 13th Congress, the House of
Representatives was deliberating on the cheaper medicines bill when
the lawyer of a pharmaceutical company slipped a note to Rep.
Teddyboy Locsin asking him to question the lack of quorum on the
floor. The maverick congressman from Makati resented the intrusion
and exposed the gall of the lobbyists who were seated at the
gallery.
Fast-forward to the current 14th Congress. The
Senate, led by Sen. Mar Roxas, chair of the Senate Committee on
Trade and Commerce, passed its version, the Affordable Medicines
Bill. The House, which had dragged its feet on the bill, caught up
and approved its model. Subsequently, the senators and the
congressmen went into a bicameral conference with clear and unified
positions on key provisions.
The House panel, chaired by Rep. Antonio
Alvarez, acceded to the Senate’s position on price regulation not
through an unwieldy price regulatory board but through executive
action by the Department of Health and, ultimately, the Office of
the President. The House panel also gave way to the President’s
request to drop the contentious generics-only provision that would
have given the right to prescribe medicines to sales clerks of
pharmacies across the land.
These are acts of statesmanship that assured the
people the speedy approval of a very important bill. At a time when
hope is as elusive as NFA rice, the enactment of the humanitarian
law is a significant break for ailing Filipinos and their
families—millions of them.
It is in this light that bicameral conferees
Iloilo Representatives Ferjenel Biron and Janette Garin’s
complaints about the bill’s alleged imperfections should be
dismissed as sourgraping. The two lawmakers said that the final
omnibus version is a watered-down bill. They expressed doubts about
its efficacy to bring down the price of medicines. The price
regulatory board the two are pushing is exactly what the
pharmaceutical companies are looking for—a mechanism for
negotiations on profits and prices cloaked in anonymity and bereft
of accountability. Luckily, common sense prevailed.
A bicameral consensus has been reached on a
major bill that contains the necessary tools to bring down the costs
of medicines. Roxas is correct in calling on the Department of
Health to start planning for its implementation. Pass the law and
use it to help save lives and to moderate the suffering of the
masses of Filipinos who are groaning from the crushing weight of
rice prices, food shortage and fuel costs.
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