Staff reporter
Narvacan, Ilocos Sur—Over 1,500 participants attended a
federalism summit held in an open court of this town’s municipal hall.
Highlighting the advantages
of a federal form of government which gives more power to the provinces outside
Metro Manila through the so-called “bottoms-up decision making and no-nonsense
leadership”, the local government unit of Narvacan led by their mayor Zuriel
Zaragoza hosted the summit in support of President Duterte’s advocacy to
implement real change.
Mr. Zaragoza said
decentralization and devolution of powers and authority from the national
government to the local government units is better to enable local government
units to become self-reliant, thus making them an effective partner in the
attainment of national goals and in nation building.
He reiterated this we can
only achieve this through timely transition from the present form of government
to a federal one.
Citing the top four agenda of
the Duterte administration such as anti-criminality and corruption, rule of
law, peace and order, and poverty alleviation, Usec. Joel Egco, executive
director of the Presidential Communications Operations Office urged Ilocos
residents to support the president for “he is our last card, our last hope” to
achieve change.
As a former activist himself,
Mr. Egco said it is only under the Duterte administration that he felt the
sincerity of a leader to implement change.
Expressing support to a
revolutionary government towards federalism, Elmer Bumanglag, 58, of Brgy. Napo
in Badoc, Ilocos Norte said he believes it will do more good for the common
people if we give the country a chance for a new form of government.
“I like it because it will
benefit my future generation. With federalism, all regional states will have
their own set of governance and the 80% of the taxation will remain at the
local level and the 20% will go to the national level. If this will push
through, corruption will be eliminated,” said Mr. Bumanglag as he joined other
members of the Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte-National Executive Coordinating
Committee in Narvacan, Ilocos Sur during the federalism summit.
For a young farmer-engineer
John Lei Ganiron of Batac City, he said federalism could probably be the
Filipino’s “last hope to solve corruption and the many ills of the government
today”.
“We need one supreme power
from a leader who knows how to lead the country in the right way. We trust our
leader [Duterte] and we are confident he can make it for the common good,” Mr.
Ganiron said.
The first of a kind
federalism summit in the second district of Ilocos Sur is also meant to kick
off the week-long celebration of the bagnet festival of Narvacan in time for
the town’s 141st foundation anniversary.
Other undersecretaries of the
national government also joined the summit which include Mr. Egco, Emily
Padilla for Legislative Liaison and Special Concerns of the Department of
Interior and Local Government and Virginia Orogo for special concerns of the
Department of Social Welfare and Development Office.
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