On Bangsamoro Law

Why not enact now the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL), while the rest of the country pursue (or debate on) federalism. This involved citizen however suggests that we first put in place regionalism by creating a regional government in each of the remaining geographic regions, instead of federalism. Parenthetically, in America, there were already colonies or states existing and functioning effectively, more so in 1776 or thereafter, before they voted in 1787 for a federal system of government, where a central or national government acts as a unifying authority over independent and separate states, which now we know as the United States of America. So, why not strengthen and unify first our local governments, by creating a regional government for each of the remaining sixteen administrative or geographic regions, as a unifying authority, after which, having acquired experience and wisdom, also insight, perhaps we can now consider or install federalism. Peace, needless to stress, is urgent and imperative, being a conditio sine qua non for an accelerated national development. (In the 60s, the Philippines was second to Japan in development. Now, we are a little better than Bangladesh, which replaced us as the basket case in Asia. Just the same, Vietnam and Cambodia are almost outpacing us, while Thailand, our twin country in development, has now outpaced the Philippines.)There is no more reason to further delay the approval of the Bangsamoro Basic Law, notably anchored on two vital documents, the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro (FAB) and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB), to which the government is a signatory. Judge EDMUNDO H. ESCALANTE (ret.) former president, IBP Sorsogon Chapter CP No. 09129141903