FEDERALISM LAST OPTION TO FORGE PEACE PACT
WITH MILF -- PIMENTEL

PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA -- Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today urged the government to now consider the adoption of a federal system to address the incessant Muslim insurgency as it strives to revive dormant peace talks with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

Pimentel said the creation of a BangsaMoro Federal State as part of a federalized Philippine republic is the last viable option left for the government with the scrapping of the government-MILF agreement on ancestral domain which was voided by the Supreme Court for being unconstitutional.

He batted for the federalism plan as the government remains at a loss on what peace formula to offer to the rebel group to get the peace process out of the doldrums.

The senator from Mindanao has been asked to act as an adviser to the government's negotiating team. Malacanang plans to create a congressional advisory panel to backstop the peace talks.

"I have not accepted it yet pending clarification of a number of things connected with the post," Pimentel said.

One of the options being considered by the Arroyo government to address the ancestral domain issue and the aspirations of Muslim Filipinos for genuine autonomy is to amend the organic act that created the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

But Pimentel, principal author of the ARMM organic act, doubted whether the demands of the MILF to exercise broader government powers and to expand the territorial coverage of the autonomous region could be resolved by merely amending the law. He said the BangsaMoro people believe that their problems can be solved by putting in place a system that is higher than autonomy.

Noting that tension is again building up in Mindanao these days, Pimentel cited the urgency of resolving the conflict so that the long-suffering people in conflict areas can resume peaceful and normal lives and enjoy the benefits of economic prosperity.

"To ease the anxiety of our people, my colleagues in Congress are making many suggestions," Pimentel said at the Regional Seminar of Parliaments in Promoting Peaceful and Sustainable Societies in Southeast Asia in Phnom Penh, sponsored by the Parliament of Cambodia and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

"In my case, I am espousing the establishment of a federal system of government that will include a federal state of the BangsaMoro in lieu of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao."

He reiterated his belief that the federalization of the Republic of the Philippines would speed up the economic development and dissipate the causes of Moro separatism and other armed rebellions.

Pimentel said he came to this conclusion after consultations with Moro rebel leaders, the ulamas, academics, politicians and youth leaders.

"To the last person, they are in general supportive of my proposal to create a BangsaMoro federal state out the autonomous region," he said.