CEBU CITY — Pro-Duterte Administration mass movement, Kilusang Pagbabago (KP), is set to celebrate its second-year anniversary and push for federalism in a rally at the Cebu Provincial Capitol here Sunday.
Kilusang Pagbabago-Visayas lead convenor, Doris Isubal-Mongaya, said on Wednesday they will also announce the movement’s senatorial choices during their first-ever Visayas Congress at the Capitol Social Hall.
“We do not want the political season to deflect discussions about federalism. KP will support candidates expected to promote federalism beyond May 2019,” Mongaya said in a press conference held at the Palm Grass Hotel.
“We are inclined to endorse the slate of Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte’s Hugpong ng Pagbabago, but we will only endorse eight candidates and leave the four for our personal choices,” she added.
KP-Visayas co-convenor, lawyer Rex JMA Fernandez, on the other hand, said a shift to a federal form of government was advocated by then-Davao mayor Rodrigo Duterte during the 2016 election campaign.
However, the federalism campaign encountered obstacles in Congress, Fernandez said.
“Some congressmen want the provision on anti-political dynasty taken out of the draft federal constitution. They also watered down the provision on turncoatism,” he said, citing Section 7 of Article 5 on Suffrage and Political Parties in the Consultative Committee draft, which strongly prohibits elected officials from switching parties during their term of office.
The rally, dubbed as “Lihok Suporta! Sulong Federalism (Support Movement! Onward Federalism),” will start at 3 p.m.
Invited to grace the affair are Senators JV Ejercito and Cynthia Villar, former Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, and Presidential Adviser on Legal Affairs Secretary Adelino Sitoy.
They, however, have yet to confirm their attendance, Mongaya said.
KP arose from the broad movement of Duterte supporters who were mobilized and organized during the 2016 presidential elections by then national campaign manager and later Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., who filed his certificate of candidacy for Bohol governor last week.
KP-Visayas has more than 300,000 members spread across the three regions of Visayas.
Mongaya invited everybody, including parallel movements and other pro-federalism groups, to join the celebration on October 28.
“We can make a huge difference now by mobilizing our membership for pro-federalism candidates,” she said.
KP 7 (Central Visayas) lead convenor, Rodrigo Tanza Jr., and KP-Cebu province chairman, Josephus Grengia, also attended the press conference. (Luel Galarpe/PNA)
