DUMAGUETE CITY – Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo and City Mayor Felipe Antonio Remollo announced Monday their full support to the proposed shift from the current presidential to a federal form of government.
“It’s now or never. It’s do or die this time,” Remollo said, adding that now is the right time - during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. Remollo said this in an interview following a town hall meeting with multi-sectoral representatives at the Negros Oriental Convention Center Monday morning.
Gov. Degamo, in a separate interview following the same meeting, said that this is now the chance for Negros Oriental and other provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao to break away from “imperial Manila”.
Both local chief executives issued their statement as the Consultative Committee (ConCom) tasked by the President to review the 1987 Constitution rolled out on Monday the first of a series of regional consultations across the country as part of the proposed constitutional reform.
“Because we are always at the mercy of a (Cabinet) secretary, of the President, of different agencies and sige ta gapakilooy sa atong kaugalingong income (because we keep on begging for our own income),” the governor pointed out one his reasons for supporting a federal form of government.
On the other hand, Remollo noted that once a federal government is in place, “we no longer have to spend so much to go to Manila to follow up on projects or transact with the national government.”
The mayor, a lawyer, noted that President Duterte has chosen “the best of the best” members of the ConCom to draft a federal constitution and he believes that not one of them is a politician.
As Gov. Degamo thanked the ConCom for choosing Negros Oriental as venue for the “historical” first regional consultation on the draft federal constitution, he highlighted the importance of equitable sharing, local autonomy in the use of resources, and even shared power with the national government once the shift takes place.
“Una sa tanan nga maka manage na ta sa atong kaugalingong resources (first off, we can now manage our own resources), and secondly, makagama na ta ug atong kaugalingong polisiya (we can now craft our own policies),” Degamo stressed.
According to him, some of the existing laws crafted by the central government do not benefit the provinces because the problems are different from theirs.
He told his constituents that “now is the time that mupadayag ta sa atong gibati (we can express our sentiments) and that we can now manage our own local government, even at the barangay level.”
Mayor Remollo also reiterated the views of the governor, saying that the President alone cannot attend to the many problems in the regions and therefore, it would be advantageous to allow the regional governments to run their own affairs under a federal government.
“Kung empowered ka or kung may pera or sufficient funds ang local governments (if you are empowered and the local governments have sufficient funds), the regional governments will solve the problems, such as peace and order, sanitation, infrastructure and many other things that (can be) delivered,” to the people, said Remollo.
“It will only need an appropriation ordinance to fund projects,” as opposed to now where Congress has to approve the budget, he pointed out.
Both Gov. Degamo and Mayor Remollo are hoping that the people of Negros Oriental will vote “Yes” in a plebiscite for the federal constitution to replace the 1987 Constitution.
Degamo promised to support efforts to widen the information and dissemination campaign of the Duterte administration in Negros Oriental for a federal form of government, even as he expressed optimism that this will push through because “this is the call of the President and this is the call of the majority of the people of the country.”
The Dumaguete mayor also showed the same optimism, but admits the need for the ConCom and other agencies involved in the constitutional reform to double their efforts, otherwise they might run out of time.
The ConCom is expected to present to President Duterte the draft federal constitution by early July before this is passed on to Congress, he said.
“And only President Duterte can deliver this (federal government) to the people during his term, because for the longest time, he was a local government official of Davao” and he saw the problems that can be solved locally, the mayor added.
Earlier, Gov. Degamo and Mayor Remollo spoke to representatives of various sectors, such as the youth, Muslim communities, agriculture, and Indigenous Peoples, among others, to discuss matters pertaining to the proposed change of government.
Joining them were Interior and Local Government Assistant Secretary Jonathan Malaya, the Administrator of the Center for Federalism and Constitutional Reform (CFCR), political analysts Gary Casiple and Gary Olivar, and Isabela Mayor Joselito Malabor, among others. (PNA)
