A DISAPPOINTED Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. on Monday bewailed the noninclusion of the proposal for the establishment of a federal system in the peace talks between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), insisting that this could be a long-range and ultimate political solution to the incessant Muslim rebellion in the South.

Pimentel said Muslim dissidents in Mindanao will stop clamoring for a separate, independent republic if their aspiration for genuine autonomy in the form of a BangsaMoro Federal State is fulfilled.

“Through the creation of a BangsaMoro Federal State—which will be part of the Federal Republic of the Philippines—the government can address the longings of Muslim Filipinos to preserve their cultural identity and live according to their Islamic way of life with their own religion, system of education and justice, as well as customs and traditions,” he said.

Pimentel noted that the peace negotiations have been stuck on the issue of ancestral domain—the recognition of the right of Muslims to their traditional homeland in Mindanao.

Ancestral domain, he said, is just one of the many issues being raised by the MILF in upholding the rights of Muslims. “The problem is the government seems to have no interest at all in offering the federalism proposal in the peace talks,” he complained.

The senator warned that the failure to discuss the federalism proposal, which has the support of leaders of the MILF and Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) and various sectors of the Muslim community, is a major reason why the peace negotiations have dragged on for over 10 years now with the prospects of a final peace agreement still in limbo.

He explained that the federalization scheme, far from dismembering the republic, will make it more united and cohesive. “I think it is necessary for us to restructure our thinking that, by adopting the federal system, we are not dividing the nation, rather, we are creating federal states out of the Republic of the Philippines,” Pimentel said.

Pimentel is pushing for 10 federal states under the proposed system of government: three in Luzon (Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Bicol), three in the Visayas (Eastern, Western and Central Visayas) and three in Mindanao (Northern Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and BangsaMoro).

He said the proposed Federal Republic of the Philippines will retain the sovereignty over the nation and the federal states will have to contend with the powers and functions that will be delegated to them and defined in the Constitution.

During the floor debates on the federalism proposal in the Senate last week, Pimentel agreed with Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile that the following powers and functions can be retained by the central government under a federal setup: currency, national taxation, armed forces and defense, foreign affairs, national banking, communications, immigration, Customs, international trade, strategic minerals and quarantine.

Enrile said the component federal states will, among other powers, be tasked with the development and utilization of minerals, fisheries, land and timber resources.

Citing the experience of Switzerland as a federalized country, Pimentel said federalism means the sharing of power among the central government and the local government units and it operates on the principle of inclusion, not exclusion, of all societal stakeholders.

“Federalism, means respect for the difference among people in culture, language, religion and other points of view,” he said.

Pimentel said his federalism proposal has a two-fold objective: Peace and development.

It is wrong to say, he said, that the proposal is meant only to solve the centuries-old Moro secessionist wars.

“No doubt the federal system will dissipate the causes of the Moro unrest but it will bring about peace and development for the country as well.”

Pimentel stressed that the devolution of certain powers and wealth from the central government to the local governments meant that “we wanted to cut off the umbilical cord of dependence that characterized the relationships between the central government and the local governments.” 

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A DISAPPOINTED Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. on Monday bewailed the noninclusion of the proposal for the establishment of a federal system in the peace talks between the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), insisting that this could be a long-range and ultimate political solution to the incessant Muslim rebellion in the South.

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