Nene Pimentel: Do not rush federal charter

Lawmakers should not rush Charter change towards federalism, said former Senate President and staunch federalism proponent Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. on Saturday.

“Palagay ko medyo tagilid [three months to federalism] sapagkat dapat malaman ng taumbayan puno't dulo nito bakit kailangan ng federal system. It's not because the President is endorsing [it] therefore automatically maganda,” Pimentel told reporters in an interview.

“Maganda ang layunin pero dapat may alam ang taumbayan [kung] ano yung sinusuportahan nila and that is why sa tingin it will take more than three months,” he added.

Pimentel, a veteran lawmaker, said the goal of federalism is to upset current government power imbalance by decentralizing it across proposed regions, or federal states. He authored the Local Government Code of 1991, which provided for the devolution of powers.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has earlier floated the idea that a draft federal charter could be submitted for a referendum, or a public vote, by May, simultaneous with the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections, if Congress convenes into a constitutional assembly within the month.

Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, son of the elder Pimentel, said Alvarez's timeline may be “too ambitious.” Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, meanwhile, called on Congress leaders to instead come up with a “realistic and workable” timetable.

Asked for a projected date, the elder Pimentel said the country's shift to federalism may take until the fifth year of President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.

“I would like to say that as far as the people are concerned kung ano yung patakaran ng Saligang Batas dapat sundin, kung hindi kayang gawin within the term of President Digong, sorry na lang,” he said.

“That is why ako naman ay aggressively ay tinutulak ko ito because kung bago na ang Pangulo baka iba na naman ang pananaw so it will take another so many years,” he added.

He had previously said the Charter should be amended within the first two years of a sitting President’s term.

Lawmakers in the two chambers of the legislature are at odds over how they should vote over the proposed Constitutional amendment.

Senators have taken exception to the idea of a joint voting, saying their numbers will be rendered irrelevant by the House of Representatives’ number.

But regardless of the manner of voting, the elder Pimentel has repeatedly called for public participation in the process towards a shift to a federal form of government through public hearings and mass media information dissemination.

"...Ang importante rito, even if we do it by constituent assembly, the people must participate, 'wag nilang pabayaan na ang congressman and women at mga senador to do their thing without considering the views of the people," he said at a news forum.

"Participation of the people is a must in this process," he added.

The shift to a federal form of government is among Duterte's campaign promises. —ALG, GMA News