Tatad mounts call for federal gov't

Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad said yesterday the distribution of powers among the federated units of a federal government would ensure the development of even the most backward region of the country.

Tatad, proponent of a federal system of government along with Senators Aquilino Pimentel Jr. and John Osmeña, said the current centralization of government powers in Manila has given rise to what people in the Visayas and Mindanao have called "Imperial Manila."

He said the federal form of government would enhance the cultural and ethnic diversity prevailing in the country, without dismembering it.

Tatad, Osmeña and Pimentel filed a concurrent resolution calling for a constitutional convention to adopt a federal government to obviate the attempt of separatist Muslims in Mindanao to carve an Islamic state.

"Under a federal system, power is brought closer to the citizen who no longer has to go up to the national government," Tatad said.

Pimentel, for his part, said he conceives of a federal government with the whole country, not just Mindanao, federalized with 11 component states and Metro Manila as a special administrative region.

"The adoption of a federal system of government would address the recurring grievances of people outside Metro Manila that they are being discriminated against in terms of development," he said.

He said Luzon will have four federal states: Northern Luzon, Central Luzon, Bicol and Southern Tagalog.

"Eastern Visayas, Central Visayas and Western Visayas will each constitute a federal state in the Visayas, while Northern Mindanao, Eastern Mindanao and Bangsa Moro will be the federal states in Mindanao," Pimentel said.