DEPARTMENT of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) officer in charge Eduardo Año maintained on Saturday, September 8, that the entire agency is not leading a campaign for the shift to federalism through a revolutionary government following the pronouncement made by one of its officials.
"The call for a revolutionary government is the personal opinion of Usec. (undersecretary) (Epimaco) Densing and not of the DILG. He was speaking as honorary chairman of the Mula sa Masa Duterte Movement (MMDM) and not for the DILG," Año said in reaction to statements allegedly made by Densing during a gathering of President Rodrigo Duterte supporters in Butuan City on Friday, September 7.
In his speech before at least 300 Duterte supporters under the Mula sa Masa Duterte Movement (MMDM), Densing said the DILG is initiating efforts for a transitory revolutionary government instead of the federalism government which might be far from reach.
The group were wearing red shirts printed with "Federalism Now! Through RevGov in a democratic way."
"What we are pushing now is the same concept as people's government because we think that federalism will not happen if people will not intervene. People are allowed in the Constitution to push for a revolutionary government if they think that the existing government no longer serves their interest," Densing said.
"In the proposed RevGov, we want to suspend the 1987 Constitution, people will push for people's government, they will push President Duterte to do People Power so that he would serve as President during the revolutionary period. Once, he is there, he will accept the revolutionary power and the first thing he should do is sign a provisional constitution with the Bill of Rights, then issue an executive order to organize a constitutional commission to set up the federal constitution of the Philippines," he added.
Año said the official position of the DILG is to inform about and advocate for federalism using the draft Federal Constitution written by the Consultative Committee (Concom) chaired by retired chief justice Reynato Puno.
He said that the DILG has been going around the country informing the people about the merits of the federal system of government but not calling for a revolutionary government.
Año said DILG officials have been to Dumaguete, Baguio, Cebu, Legazpi, Davao, Tacloban and the Caraga region to educate the public about federalism.
"We are advocating for federalism through constitutional means. The 1987 Constitution has clear provisions on how a change in the system of government can be effected. We abide by these provisions and will see to it that any change in the system of government goes through constitutional processes," he said.
Since the campaign period, Duterte has promised to shift to a federal form of government in order to provide more autonomy and faster development and better delivery of services to the people. (SunStar Philippines)