Press Release
September 19, 2008

PIMENTEL SAYS DEVOLUTION OF POWERS NOT ENOUGH TO ADDRESS UNDERDEVELOPMENT OF NEGLECTED REGIONS

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the acute problems of underdevelopment of certain regions and provinces cannot be solved by merely delegating powers to the local government units (LGUs).

Pimentel maintained that these problems can be solved only by the adoption of a federal system of government wherein the component federal states, vested with sufficient powers and financial autonomy, can run their affairs with little or no interference from the central government.

He also said substantial powers can be delegated to the local governments only by amending the Constitution, and not by merely amending the laws.

"We have to amend the Constitution because the exercise of powers by devolution alone is constricted. For instance, you cannot grant the provincial boards of the various provinces to enact laws that will, in effect, be binding as legal principles on all peoples coming under your jurisdiction," he explained.

On the other hand, he said there will be a quantum leap in terms of political powers that can be exercised by the LGUs if a federal system is adopted.

"There are many powers that will now be exercised by the federal states that cannot possibly be done through mere devolution," he said.

Pimentel said Joint Senate Resolution 10 calling for the shift to a federal system provides that the federal states will exercise powers over matters that are not exclusively reserved to the federal or central government.

He said the powers that the Constitution may assign to the federal states would enable them to discharge their responsibilities in matters of development, local taxes and the police.

On the other hand, he said the powers of the federal republic may cover, among other things, foreign affairs, national defense, federal taxes, customs and immigration, education, and basic justice.

"The sharing of powers in a federal system will ensure that the federal states will have ample powers to develop their own social, economic and political potentials," Pimentel said.

"With adequate powers vested in them, the federal state would now be able to propel themselves to the heights of modernization. As federal states modernize, the political stability of the whole republic will inevitably be strengthened."

On the sharing of taxes and other revenues, Pimentel said Joint Resolution l0 mandates that 20 percent shall accrue to the federal government and 80 percent to the federal states.

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