Koko uses charter day to advance federalism

By Nitz Arancon
Correspondent .

FORMER Senate president Aquilino Martin ‘Koko’ Pimentel, III maximized the charter day celebration here last Friday to campaign for a federal system of government.

“Kon kamo nagato-o nga ang pangagamhanan nga duol sa katawhan, mao ang pinakama-ayo nga pamaagi, ug kini makasulbad sa mga suliran, ali kamo ug uban kanamo,  sa pagpalambo sa kausa sa federalismo,” Pimentel said during his 15-minute speech at Kiosko Kagawasan in Divisoria, this city.

Pimentel was the gust of honor of the city’s 68th charter day. On the same day, Mayor Oscar Moreno gave his annual report.

The senator reiterated that President Rodrigo Duterte only wants to “rebuild a greater Philippines.”

Pimentel also boasted Duterte’s supposed delivery of his campaign promises.

Among the top ten accomplishment of the Duterte administration, Pimentel said, is the campaign against illegal drugs, the implementation of free education in state colleges and universities, free irrigation system, lower personal income taxes, increase of the basic pay for military and police, cutting red tape, the national identification system, and the longer effectivity period of passports and driver’s licenses.

“The Bangsamoro Basic Law is about to be  finalized. The practice of Endo is about to end, peace talk with the CPP-NPA  are to resume soon. We have pursued an independent foreign policy, and because of this, the Philippines is now considered the  friend of so many nations,  including the United states,  Europe, Japan, South Korea, China, Russia,  and even the middleeast,” Pimentel beamed.

Soon, he added, the Duterte administration will roll out what he called as the “golden age of infrastructure” under the President’s massive “Build, build, build Program.”