Struggle for federal form of gov’t continues

CEBU, Philippines - After putting Mayor Rodrigo Roa Duterte as president of the present government, the fight for federalism continues, resulting in the creation of the Hugpong Pederalismo ng Pilipinas, according to lawyer Joel Obar.

Obar is now the national point person on the campaign of a federal form of government under the Duterte administration.

Being elected president on a platform of federalism, Obar firmly believed it is time to announce that, from today, it will be converting the local party of Duterte, which is “Hugpong Davao,” into the “Hugpong Pederalismo ng Pilipinas” with the first provincial chapter to be established in Negros Oriental.

Obar explained Duterte won the presidency without a complete slate from the senators down to the level of municipal councilor, and so all the HPP has to do now is to organize the more than 16 million voters, who voted for Duterte, into a political party or the Federal Solidarity Party of the Philippines.

Obar said a political party is needed for the people to support the programs and projects of the Duterte government.

Obar is expected to meet with Duterte in Davao on Monday for specific instructions on the creation of a national party on federalism, together with another lawyer from Negros Oriental, Erwin Vergara, who is a member of PDP-Laban.

The first membership of the party in Negros Oriental is the more than 168,000 votes garnered by Duterte in the last elections, more than 29,000 of which are in Dumaguete City.  

Obar, however, made it clear that others, who belong to the other party, can still be part of the solidarity party even if they choose to stay with their respective political parties.

An organizational meeting will immediately commence with Vergara as one of the officers.

As members, they will have IDs and will undergo certain amount of trainings and lectures on federalism including the five-point policies of Duterte, namely, fight against criminality, fight against contractualizatin, local industrialization, cleaning the judiciary and fixing the government. —(FREEMAN)