CHARTER CHANGE WILL GAIN SUPPORT IF IT IS NOT FOR
SELFISH ENDS -- PIMENTEL

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said the move of Malacañang and its congressional allies to amend the Constitution will earn the support of the opposition and the people if the aim is to put in place much-needed reforms in the system of government and not to accommodate self-serving ambitions of the powers-that-be.

Pimentel reiterated his stand that the primary goal of Charter Change is to replace the outmoded and highly-centralized unitary system with a federal system where the vast powers of government will be dispersed among the component, autonomous regions or federal states.

"I favor amendment of the Constitution to adopt the federal system. Not to accommodate President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and Speaker Jose de Venecia, Jr. through the adoption of a parliamentary form," the minority leader said.

"The Constitution should never be tailor-made to suit the whims of anyone no matter how powerful. We have learned our lessons from the martial law experience. Never again. Numquam iterum, as the Israelis say."

Pimentel said the federalization of the country will provide the ultimate legal solution to the decades-old Muslim secessionist conflict in Mindanao and will accelerate the country's economic and social development.