If the “CMFP (Citizens’ Movement for a Federal Philippines) DRAFT CONSTITUTION FOR A FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES WITH A PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT” pushes through, our country will be a federal republic with a parliamentary system of government.

If ever this federal republic is that of the ‘competitive’ sub-category, that means that every state in it will be sovereign in the imposition of its own local laws.

Exactly the way you want it – without “pakialam” from Metro Manila.

In case you haven’t read it yet, your Ilonggo Nation is actually the prescribed Western Visayas State – with its own locally designed laws – bound together with the rest of the country under the Philippine Federal Republic and its Constitution.

One Country, One President, One Constitution, One Military Force, but locally-fitted State Laws like most democratic countries today.

As of this moment I’m living in Metro Manila. My language is very much Tagalog. But to call my language “Filipino” somehow upsets my stomach because I know in the deepest parts of my psyche that my non-Tagalog countrymen are somehow left out of the detail.

My ears may not understand what you say, but my heart does. If I were you, I’d support for pushing for a Philippine Federal Republic.

Here’s the link: http://dss.ucsd.edu/~mshugart/ied/pdfs/philippines/kaf_cmfp_%20draft_constitution_2005.pdf