Mindanao can fully maximize its potential as the country's center for food production under a federalized system of government coupled with a more liberal foreign investment policy especially in the agriculture sector, House Speaker Prospero Nograles said in a press release.

Constitutional restrictions on land ownership and foreign investment equity is limiting the country's potential as an investment hub and in the case of Mindanao, as center for food production, because of the inadequate foreign capital that comes in to modernize Philippine agriculture, Nograles added.

“Agriculture in the Philippines is still in a state of pick and shovel and large tracks of arable land are still left uncultivated. If we remove these restrictions, we will solve the problem on capital, technology and equipment to develop the large tracks of arable lands that are sitting idly in Mindanao,” he said in the press release.

Nograles, however, reiterated his support for the shift to federalism is entirely dependent on the commitment of the Senate in pushing for charter change.

In pushing for the lifting of Constitutional restrictions on land ownership and investment equity for foreign capitalists, Nograles said that with the limited market potential of the Philippines, if compared with its bigger and more populated neighbors, it should be able to offer more in inviting foreign capital apart from its advantage of having skilled and English-proficient work force, the press release added.

He also said that the over-protective foreign investment provision in the Constitution has prevented the transfer of cutting-edge technology because foreign capitalists are hesitant to relocate technology resources in a country which cannot guarantee that their plants are sitting on a land which is truly their own.

Meanwhile, the Partido Demokratiko Sosyalista ng Pilipinas said it is supporting proposals to shift to a federal system of government and expressed belief that Constitutional Convention is the best method to do it.

However, before any change can be made, various reforms in the political system are needed to encourage the emergence of mature political parties firmly committed to democracy and to a political practice based on clear and comprehensive world views, programs of government, and respect for qualifications for public office, it added.

Co-founder Fr. Romeo Intengan of the PDSP said Con-con is the most participative way of changing the system of government. He said the party is for a federal system properly designed to improve the economy and one that preserves and develops the culture and the linguistic heritage of various communities.

To ensure equality and to prevent secessionism, Intengan said the federal government will have to provide a “solidarity development fund” for the poorer states to speed up their socio-economic development, the press said.

Intengan stressed the need for the proposed federation and all subordinate political units of government, to respect human rights, including the right to freedom of religious belief and practice, the press release added.*

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