PUERTO PRINCESA CITY, Palawan -- A new independent group in this city has expressed strong support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s renewed call for a shift to federalism, but wants Palawan to be carved up into three provinces to become “one federated state.”
The group, which is called “Movement for Federalism, One Palawan, and One Federated State,” is headed by designated chairman, Estino Jairi Ayyobie, a senior leader of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) under the Yusop Jikiri faction, and 12 others representing several municipalities in the province.
Ayyobie told the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Tuesday that their movement will soon gather signatures all over the province to support their call for a self-sufficient state.
They, however, clarified that they have no specific target number of signatures for this move.
“No target numbers. It all depends on the people; if they already know the advantage and they wish to support, they are welcome. Or they can also form their own as long as their objective is parallel to One Palawan, One Federated State,” Ayyobie said.
The senior leader said Palawan can be another federated state instead of agreeing to proposals that seek its inclusion to the Bangsamoro State, Western Visayas-Palawan State, or the MIMAROPA (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, and Palawan) State.
“We proposed that Palawan be part of the Bangsamoro State earlier. Then others also have proposals for it to be part of Western Visayas or the MIMAROPA – and with this, instead of joining them, we now have agreed to adjust our position, and now campaign for Palawan to be just one federated state under President Duterte’s federalism proposition,” he said.
He said that the best thing to do is to urge the three House representatives of Palawan to immediately act on dividing it into three separate provinces, which is important in becoming one federal state.
Ayyobie said that if the province is included in any of the three different proposed states, it will not fully gain from the profits of its agriculture and tourism industries, and other benefits of its natural resources.
Under the federal form of government, the senior MILF leader explained that 70 percent of the proceeds from the province’s wealth will go to the regional state to be divided equally among member provinces.
Palawan will only get 17.5 percent, which is rather small compared to what it has and can contribute.
“We should push for Palawan to become one federal state because 17.5 percent is too small for us, and yet we know it is very rich,” he said.
Cesar Ventura, who also belongs to the movement, but is the secretary general of Kilusang Pagbabago (KP) in Palawan, said in an earlier interview that as a separate federal state, the province can easily attain rapid growth due to revenues from natural gas production, including mining, and pearl culture.
“Palawan is very wealthy, and earns big, let’s say on mining, and yet, we're only receiving 2 percent. We also have the highest quality of pearl culturing in Asia but we’re not really getting anything from it. If we become one federal state, all will be ours to benefit from,” Ventura said.
He said that to become a federal state, Palawan only needs two provinces. But since the proposal is to divide it into three, then all the better, he said.
“As a federal state, we only need two provinces, and each requires 500,000 population. Palawan right now has 1.1 million population so, we are qualified,” he said.
Both Ayyobie and Ventura also reiterated that they have nothing against President Duterte’s proposal for a shift in government.
“The only way to development is federalism. I have not seen any federal form of government, or any country following a federal form of government fail that is why I support it. But, of course, we want Palawan to become one federal state,” Ventura said.
The independent movement was presented on Sept. 22 by Ayyobie, who said that its formal launching will be announced soon.
Despite that, he said they have been going around the province now to raise the awareness of Palaweños on federalism and why Palawan wants to become a self-governing state. (PNA)
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