Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. still pushes for federalism as solution to secessionism in the south and the communist- led insurgency elsewhere in the country.

Pimentel stressed that with autonomy and political decentralization, leaders can actually solve needling problems and allocate public funds for sustained and focused development in Mindanao.

The opposition senator explained to journalists in Saturday's edition of the Friday Balitaan sa Rembrandt that decentralization would end the patronage politics and corrupt bureaucratic practices that have become the hallmark of the Arroyo administration.

He noted that in spite of the much-bruited about ceasefire with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), fighting in Maguindanao in August 2008 caused 130,000 people to flee.

Conflict also led to squalor, hunger and fear for 90,000 evacuees in Marawi City, Pikit, Datu Piang and other parts of Maguindanao. Only 15 percent of the fertile lands of Lanao del Sur is being tilled.
 
Pimentel noted that the problem of peace and development in the south requires focused attention and long-term commitment by the Filipino people and expressed support for the work being done by Ali Santoli and the Asia American Initiative (AAI) in supporting health, livelihood, education and peace programs in Mindanao.

In the same forum, Commissioner Eduardo Escueta of the National Police Commission (Napolcom) said preparations for the National Crime Prevention Week (NCPW) celebration during the first week of September are underway.
 
Escueta said Napolcom is advocating the use of whistles in alerting the police and seeking their response to any felony or crime.