Vicente T. Lao, Mindanao Business Council (MinBC) chairman, said some senators told leaders from Mindanao attending a congressional hearing early this month that the plan of amending the Constitution leading to a federal government has a good chance of passing Congress.

If this happens, it will be good for us in Mindanao because we will have a bigger role in crafting the development of the island,

Mr. Lao told BusinessWorld.

MinBC, a group of Mindanao-based business chambers, has joined civil society coalition Lihuk Pideral Mindanaw in pushing for a shift to the federal system.

Rey M. Teves, leader of Lihuk Pideral, earlier called on Congress to pass a law that will effect the change in form of government.

Mr. Teves’s group has proposed that amending the Constitution should be through a constitutional convention rather than converting Congress into a Constituent Assembly.

Mindanao leaders are apprehensive that lawmakers may only seek to extend their terms of office, and that of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, beyond 2010.

The discussion on the shift to federal system has snowballed after the government junked a territory deal with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front that would have created the Bangsamoro Juridical Entity

Under a Senate proposal that seeks to establish the federal system, a Bangsamoro state will be created for the Muslim community in Mindanao.

Humanitarian assistance

Meanwhile, the Davao City business chamber has launched Support Mindanao’s Pursuit of Peace program, which seeks to collect relief goods and old clothes for the victims of conflict in Lanao del Sur, Lanao del Norte and Central Mindanao.

The project came on the heels of the Australian government’s announcement to provide an equivalent of P12 million in humanitarian assistance, which will be coursed through the government-United Nations Multi-donor Program Action for Conflict Transformation for Peace.

Simeon P. Marfori II, Davao City Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Inc., said:

We in the business sector want to do our share in preserving the integrity of our country by way of helping the victims of this conflict.

Australian Ambassador Rod Smith said the assistance will address displaced residents.

The assistance will come in the form of drinking water, sanitation facilities, food and counseling in evacuation centers.

Australia is working with the UN, National Disaster Coordinating Council and other donors and international and local organizations for the humanitarian response in conflict-affected areas.

For 2008-2009, the Australian government will provide an equivalent of P4.4 billion in development assistance, focusing on the key pillars of economic growth, basic education, and national stability and human security.

Health Secretary Francisco T. Duque III, in his visit to the city Monday afternoon, noted the urgency of conducting immediate counseling and therapy sessions for families in the evacuation centers after noticing signs of trauma on some of the evacuees.

Interventions must be strengthened especially for those traumatized by the conflict, he said.

The Department of Health, Mr. Duque said, has extended P2.1 million in assistance for the affected families and health workers have already distributed medicine supplies to 107,625 families in Northern Mindanao, Central Mindanao and the autonomous Muslim region. — Carmelito Q. Francisco and Joel B. Escovilla