Constit

uti
onalref
ormi nthePhili
ppines,al
soknownasChar terChange(coll
oquial
l
yCha-Cha)
,[
1]
refer
stothepolit
icalandlegalprocessesneededtoamendt hecurrent1987Constit
uti
onoft
he
Phili
ppi
nes.Underthecommoni nterpret
ati
onoftheConsti
tuti
on,amendment scanbe
proposedbyoneoft hr
eemet hods:aPeople'sI
nit
iat
ive,
aConstit
uentAssembl yora
Constit
uti
onalConv ent
ion.

Iagreeontheamendmentoft he1987Const i
tut
ionbecauseamendi ngt heConsti
tut
ionhel
ped
ensureit
srati
ficati
on, al
thoughmanyf earedthepower f
ul f
ederalgovernmentitcr
eatedwould
depriv
ethem oft heirr
ights.Toall
aytheiranxi
eti
es,theframerspromi sedthataBil
lofRi
ghts
safeguar
dingindividuall
ibert
ieswouldbeaddedf ol
l
owingr at
if
icati
on.

Federal
ism i
sami xedorcompoundmodeofgov er
nmentt hatcombinesageneralgov
ernment
(thecentr
alor"f
ederal
"gover
nment)wi
thregi
onalgover
nment s(prov
inci
al,
stat
e,cant
onal
,
terr
it
ori
alorothersub-
uni
tgover
nments)i
nasinglepoli
ti
calsystem.

Thef
oll
owi
ngar
ethei
mpor
tanceofaf
eder
ali
zedGov
ernment
:

1.Decent
ral
i
zat
ion

InDutert
e’sfederal
ism,l
ocalgover
nmentscandeci
deforthemsel
v es.Regi
onsorstat
esare
all
owedbyf ederali
sm t
ocreatesol
uti
onstothei
rownproblems,i
mpl ementpol
i
ciesfort
hei
r
i
mpr ovement,andmakedeci si
onsfort
heirowngoodwit
houthavingt oaskMal
acañangfor
thei
rdecisi
on.

Oneoftheadvantagesofdecent
ral
izat
ionist
hatl
ocalgov
ernmentunit
swi
llal
sohavenomor
e
excusefordel
ayedandlow-qual
i
typroj
ectsandpr
ogramsbecausetheywi
l
lnotbeablet
o
blamethenati
onalgover
nmentanymor e.

2.Economi
cef
fect
s

I
mpr
ovementofl
ocal
economyi
sconsi
der
edasoneoft
hepr
osoff
eder
algov
ernment
.

Thef ederalsyst
em allowslocalgover
nmentshav
emorepowerov ert
hei
rresour
ces.I
nthe
Phil
ippines’curr
entform ofgovernment,
local
gover
nmentuni
tshavetot
urnabigbulkoft
hei
r
fundst othenationalgover
nment .

Afederalconst
it
utionalsy
stem wi
ll
all
owtheautonomousregi
onsorst
atestousethemaj or
it
y
oft
heirfundsfortheirowndevel
opmentandwit
houtneedi
ngagosignalfr
om Malacañang.

3.LessdependenceonMet
roMani
l
a

Oneofthemostcommonfeder
ali
stargument
sisthatafeder
alconsti
tuti
onwoul
dleadtoless
dependenceonMet
roMani
lawhenitcomestofi
ndingjobsandestabl
ishi
ngbusi
nesses.
Awhoppi
ng35percentofthecount
ry’
sbudgetwasgi
vent
oMet
roMani
l
aev
eni
fitr
epr
esent
s
onl
y14per
centofthetot
alpopul
ati
on.

Onei
mpor
tanceoff
eder
ali
sm i
sthati
tal
l
owsf
iscal
aut
onomyf
orl
ocal
gov
ernment
s.

Theposi
tiv
esi deofthi
spar ti
cul
araspectisthatt
hecountry
’sweal
thwi l
lbemor eevenl
y
di
str
ibut
edamongt hestategovernments.Lotsofpeopl
ealsogotoMet roManil
at ofi
ndstabl
e
j
obsandest abli
shbusinesses.Feder
ali
sm, i
fitl
eadstoeconomici
mpr ovementforthe
aut
onomousr egions,mightleadtomorejoboppor t
uni
ti
esandbusinessinvest
ment sout
side
Metr
oMani l
a.

Theref
or ,
Iagreewithaf ederali
zedgover
nmentbecausefederal
i
sm i
sonesy st
em thatal
lows
fori
ncreasedciti
zens'parti
cipati
on.Thereasonf
orthi
sisthatwhenpowergetssharedinlev
els,
thecit
izenscaninfl
uencepol ici
es,peopl
ewhogov er
nthem andthel
ikes.Al
so,f
ederal
ism
makest hemanagementofconf l
ict
squit
eeasier
.