BIÑAN CITY, Laguna – Around 4,000 barangay officials comprising the Liga ng Barangay (LnB) (village leaders league) in the CALABARZON provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon have declared their unified support to federalism through their approved Regional Resolution No. 1 series of 2018.
LnB National President Atty. Edmund R. Abesamis and Secretary General Lorenzo Zuñiga Jr. presented the village leaders’ resolution to House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who keynoted the league’s convention on Wednesday at the Alonte Sports Arena here.
Alvarez commended the move of the CALABARZON LnB for holding the first ever convention in the country under the banner “Barangay For Federalism Movement” (BFFM) and wanted other regions to replicate the same event so that the advocacy on Federalism could be discussed.
In his speech, Alvarez said that Federalism provides that a bigger portion of income from the provinces would be retained by the local governments while a portion goes to the central government, contrary to the current system where the central government gets the large portion.
“In the current system and for a long time, all our income up to the last centavo are sent to the central government and it is the central government that determines how much will be given back to us, in the provinces,” he said.
He added “under the Federal form of government, we will no longer beg from the national government to be given infrastructure projects and budgets for our provinces.”
Alvarez also said Federalism provided greater autonomy and governance to the federal states in contrast to the current system where the central government held most of power that controls the future of each province and each region in the country.
The House Speaker added that Federalism was about opportunity where areas having strategic positions and natural resources could create opportunities and chart their own destinies when they were under their control and not from the central government.
The Speaker reminded the barangay officials that Federalism had been the advocacy of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and in his call for the change in structure of the government it was the local government that would reap the benefits.
“This is up to you. This is not the fight of the President. This is your fight. This is the fight of the local government because you will benefit from the fruits of the structure of the government,” he stressed adding that Federal system of government would bring about “real change” of the nation.
The Speaker also posed a challenge for those who were against Federalism to face the barangay officials and state their arguments.
“I want those who are against Federalism to face before you and explain why they are not in favour of. For if they won’t, I think they have no courage to state and explain the good points of the current system of government,” he concluded while calling everyone to rally altogether to the advocacy on Federalism. (Zen Trinidad/PNA)
