VOL. 9 ISSUE 230 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2017
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EDGEDAVAO
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Serving a seamless society
TO EACH HIS OWN. A dog takes a rest underneath a computer desk that is being assembled by its owner at a coastal community in Davao City yesterday. Lean Daval Jr.
FEDERALISM SEEN TO STOP CONFLICTS As Davao City coalition presses shift to federal government soonest
By TIZIANA CELINE S. PIATOS
A
CIVIL society coalition has batted anew for a shift to a federal form of government to address the island’s decades-old conflict. “If this happens, it will be good for the country, particularly in Mindanao, because we will have a bigger role in crafting the development of the island,” according to Lihuk Pederal Dabaw member Atty. Ding Estores. Lihuk Pederal is an organization that consolidates pro-federal groups and individuals in Mindanao. Nereneo Navarro, also a member of Lihuk Pideral
Dabaw, reiterated the group’s call for Congress to pass a law that will pave the way for a change in the form of government. It can be recalled that Lihuk Pederal has proposed that amending the Constitution should be done through a constitutional convention rather than by converting Congress into a Constituent Assembly. “The discussion on the shift to the federal system has snowballed after the government junked a territorial deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that would have created the Bangsamoro Jurid-
ical Entity,” Navarro said. A “package of reforms” is also needed for the country’s attempt to shift to federalism to be successful, said Estores. “It has to come along with a whole package of reforms, and that package must also include a shift to some parliamentary form of government, electoral reform and the empowerment of civil society,” Estores pointed out. Meanwhile, Navarro mentioned that there are various types of federal governments, such as federal presidential republic (United States, Brazil, Venezuela); federal par-
liamentary democracy (Canada); federal parliamentary democracy under a constitutional monarchy (Belgium); federal parliamentary republic (Austria, Germany, India), among others. “In a federal parliamentary form of government, the Parliament exercises both executive and legislative power, it implies that the strength of the Parliament would be a combination of the competence of the state’s executive and legislative branches,” Navarro said. Emmanuel Cifra, Lihuk
FFEDERALISM, 11
South Koreans trigger virgin coco oil demand
T
HE growing demand for virgin coconut oil overseas has brought about a remarkable rise in exports but authorities have slow in helping boost the industry to achieve its potentials, a local inventor says.
According to Davao Investors Association president Virgilio Sangutan, there
HIGH DEMAND. Virgilio Sangutan of Davao Inventors Association announced during the Kapehan sa Dabaw at SM City on Monday the high demand for virgin coconut oil (VCO) in South Korea and the need to increase VCO production in the country particularly in Davao region. (Alexander D. Lopez)
FSOUTH, 11