Sen Aquilino Martin “Koko” Pimentel III addressed XU Law and Political Science students on the proposal to change the 1987 Philippine Constitution during a lecture spearheaded by the XU Governance and Leadership Institute at the Little Theater on July 1.

Pimentel focused his discussion on the political provisions of Charter change, relating attempts to amend the 26-year-old Constitution since the administration of former President Fidel Ramos. At the outset, he told the students that he would not answer the question of whether the Constitution should be changed, but to treat his inputs as pointers to the discussion.

The Senator said that he is in favor of changing our system of government from unitary to federal, which was also proposed by his father former Senate President and author of the Local Government Code Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr.

“The idea of a federal system is that your [local government] problem should be solved at your level,” the younger Pimentel said. Although he emphasized that “the resources to solve your problem should also be with you.”

He also said that the “federal system would be the best form of government to address the Bangsamoro issue” because there is more flexibility and autonomy at the regional level.

In spite of his support for a federal form of government, Pimentel believes that the country can take off with the current Constitution.
“Not all problems can be traced to the Constitution,” he said. “We need to change our way of thinking. Let’s be better Filipinos.”

Pimentel also pledged to work together with the XU College of Law by supporting the University’s policy researches on coastal management, Cagayan de Oro River Basin and other policy development efforts on environmental protection.