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Friday, September 1, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Negros Occidental governor Alfredo Marañon Jr. hopes the Negros Island provinces will be “reunited” under a federal system of government.
Rep. Alfredo Benitez (Negros Occidental, 3rd District), chairman of the third technical working group (TWG) under the House of Representatives’ committee on constitutional amendments, proposed turning Negros Island into a federal state.
Negrenses should move forward after the dissolution of the Negros Island Region (NIR), said Marañon, who supports federalism.
President Rodrigo Duterte abolished the NIR via Executive Order No. 38 dated Aug. 7.
This again split Negros Occidental and Negros Oriental, and returned them to their previous regions, 6 (Western Visayas) and 7 (Central Visayas), respectively.
Fourteen states – six in Luzon; four in Visayas, including the “Negros State”; and another four in Mindanao – were being proposed under the federal Philippine government, Marañon said.
“Let’s work together to make Negros as one state,” the governor urged Negrenses.
Benitez said the House aims to complete the draft of the Constitutional amendments not later than December this year.
The third TWG will draft the Preamble, National Territory (Article I), Declaration of Principles and State Policies (Article II), General Provisions (Article XVI), and Transitory Provisions (Article XVIII).
The first TWG, led by Rep. Corazon Nuñez-Malanyaon (Davao Oriental, 1st District), will take charge of the provisions on the Executive and Legislative (Articles VI and VII), the new Article on Federal and Regional Powers, Numbers of States, and the Local Government and Taxation/Allocation of Resources (Article X).
The second TWG under Rep. Fredenil Castro (Capiz, 2nd District) will craft the provisions on the Bill of Rights (Article III), Citizenship (Article IV), Suffrage (Article V), Judiciary (Article VIII), and the Amendments or Revisions (Article XVII).
The fourth TWG, led by Rep. Vicente Veloso (Leyte, 3rd District), will be in charge of the National Economy and Patrimony (Article XII), Social Justice, Labor and Others (Article XIII), Education, Science and Others (Article XIV), new Article on the Bill of Duties, Accountability of Public Officials (Article XI), and Family (Article XV). (PNA)
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