Bacolod Rep. Monico Puentevella yesterday said he is pushing for the amendment of the Constitution from a unitary system to a federal form of government.

He said the resolution he filed last week calling for the amendment of the Constitution to establish a federal form of government through Constitutional Convention or by convening Congress into a Constituent Assembly, will be heard on Tuesday if approved.

“This will be a priority move in Congress after we settle the problems on oil, food, rice and energy,” Puentevella said.

The passage of the bill will mean that the balance of power will shift from Imperial Manila to the regions, he said. The concentration of such enormous powers in Manila has created only one center of finance and development in the country resulting in a highly centralized system of government, he added.

The highly centralized system of government has brought about a spotty development of the nation where preferential treatment has been given to localities whose officials are friendly with or have easy access to an incumbent administration, Puentevella said.

He said this lopsided arrangement has spawned a host of problems including massive nationwide poverty to runaway insurgencies and rebellions that feed on the societal inequities in the nation.

Puentevella said creating 11 states out of the Republic would establish 11 centers of finance and development in the archipelago, in addition to the country’s only one center for finance and development in Metro Manila which shall be constituted as the Federal Administrative Region.

The 11 states are Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Southern Tagalog, Bicol, Mimaropa, Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas, Western Visayas, Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and Bangsamoro, he said.

Puentevella said the establishment of a federal form of government will mean an increase in the number of Senators from 24 to 75, or six senators for every state. There will also be an increase in the number of congressmen from 250 to 350, he said.

Federalism will be a big advantage to Bacolod City and Negros Occidental, Puentevella said. If approved, this will be implemented after the 2010 elections, he said.

Meanwhile, reacting to the reports that he was following up the suspension of some city officials in Bacolod before the Ombudsman, Puentevella said “these people have achieved another first in Bacolod politics – an expertise in paranoia.”

What power do they think I posses that I can dictate upon the Ombudsman, or even the President? He asked. “I am just a simple probinsianong insik in Congress,” he said, quoting the line of whistle-blower Jun Lozada.

But Mayor Evelio Leonardia said they have information from very, very reliable persons that Puentevella went to the Ombudsman in Cebu and Manila to lobby for their suspension. “I think he is fast becoming an expert in sabotage and intrigues,” Leonardia said.

Together with the vice mayor and other councilors, Leonardia said, they are very confident that when the cases filed against them concerning the government center are decided based on the merits, they will be more than vindicated.

Puentevella said he has no time for childish issues. He said there is a saying that if the kitchen is too hot, better get out.*CGS

back to top