Sunday, May 04, 2008 14 lawmakers tackle federalism bill
LEGISLATORS from Bohol and Oriental Negros also want to make Cebu City the seat of the proposed Federal State of Central Visayas and will push for it when they file the Lower House version of the Senate’s proposal to shift to a federal system of government.
Fourteen legislators from Central Visayas will meet tomorrow to discuss their proposed amendments to Senate Resolution 10.
Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south district) said legislators from Bohol and Oriental Negros prefer to make Cebu City the seat of government, which will be one of the amendments they will make.
Seat in Bohol
They are also amenable to making Tagbilaran City in Bohol the seat of the Federal Legislature, where all senators from the 11 proposed federal states in the country will hold office and their sessions.
Central Visayas legislators hope to file the bill this month, but they don’t expect to get the support of Rep. Pablo “Pabling” Garcia (Cebu, 2nd district), who reportedly has his own proposal.
“Ever since, Congressman Pabling is not sold out to the idea of a federal system. I discussed it with him and he said he has his own proposal that he is still preparing. So I said we will just file our own proposal without him and he can propose his and we are all fine with that. At least we have broken the ice on this issue,” Cuenco told Sun.Star Cebu.
He said Garcia still has not told the other legislators the details of his proposal.
In a phone interview yesterday, Cuenco confirmed that as stated in the Senate resolution, senators are proposing to make Tagbilaran the seat of the legislature of the federal republic, and not just for the state of Central Visayas.
Retain
In the Lower House version of the bill, this provision will be retained since most legislators from Central Visayas agree to it.
“We are not averse to that provision but we will make Cebu City the seat of the federal government instead of Toledo City as proposed by the senators. The legislators from Negros and Bohol want it in Cebu City because they find Toledo too far,” Cuenco said.
Eleven senators filed last month “A resolution convening the Congress into a Constituent Assembly for the purpose of revising the Constitution to Establish a Federal Form of Government.”
They proposed to create 11 states with their own centers of finance and development, so that the country’s development programs are not centrally determined, planned, funded and implemented by the National Government in Manila as it is under a unitary system. (LCR)
