THE SHIFT FROM PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM TO FEDERALISM

President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s allies believe that the 16. 6 million votes that Duterte

received during the last presidential election was a show of support for federalism and mandates

the Constitutional Change that Duterte is pushing for. But why do we need to shift from

democracy to federalism?

The Philippines is a country of a multiethnic and multilinguistic people with diverse

culture and traditions, very much like the United States of America. And federalism is seen as a

suitable form of government for a multiethnic and multilinguistic, archipelagic country. The

current system of democracy is perceived to siphon local income and wealth to feed the central

government and Metro Manila, the richest country in the region. Those who claim to support the

constitutional change emphasize that federalism would enable regions to plan and manage their

own development without national government interference. The President, for his part, has

repeatedly said that only federalism will solve the problem of the Bangsa Moro liberation fronts.

Accordingly, autonomy is a device to allow ethnic or other groups that claim a distinct

identity to exercise direct control over affairs of special concern to them while allowing the

larger entity to exercise those powers that cover common interests. The best known form of

autonomy is federalism. One of the many reasons of why the present administration pushes for

federalism is because federalism is said to solve all the major problems seen as lingering and

unsolvable that is plaguing our country for several years now.

If the constitutional change is pushed and our current form of government shifts to

federalism, it will be able to restructure the state and official policies by redistribution through

affirmative policies, recognition of personal laws and other forms of pluralism, fairer electoral

laws, and forms of power sharing.

 Accordingly, the restoration of free elections and formal democracy under the 1987

Constitution after the people power revolt in EDSA in 1986 did little to empower citizens to

check our mitigate our pervasive problems of mass poverty, unemployment, corruption, social

inequality, rebellion and the environment. Underdevelopment and population still force

multitude of Filipinos to migrate as our country lags farther behind our advanced neighbors in

the region.

The 1987 Constitution has many positive features that are worth preserving. But it has

not enabled us to rebuild various institutions for good governance. But the proposed federalism

can change all of that.

Federalism is based on the so-called principle of “dual sovereignty.” According to this

principle, governmental powers, authority, functions, responsibilities and resources shall be

distributed, and some of them also shared between the federal government (National

Government) and the States (Regional Governments) and their local governments. This

addresses the issue of redistributing the income and wealth of the country to the different regions

instead of being accessed only by the central government.

Unlike in our traditional unitary system where the national government regard the local

government as subordinate and dependent political institutions, the federal system will promote

good governance and the common good of the people because there will be a great deal of

cooperation, mutual support and adjustments in the relations between the federal government and

the states. Federalism also addresses the principle of “popular sovereignty” emphasized in the

1987 Constitution. While the people exercise self-rule with substantial powers, authority and

functions and the needed resources for funding, problems will also be attended to at the lowest
level in which they can be solved, by the people directly concerned, without elevating the

problems for decision at higher levels.

The proponents of federalism claims that when our unitary system is changed and the

Republic of Philippines is changed to a Federal Republic, it will solve many of the problems

deemed unsolvable besetting our country namely:

 The issue of peace and cultural diversity and the Bangsa Moro. Federalism will

accommodate the legitimate interests of the indigenous people, end war in Mindanao and

discourage seccionism.

 The issue of good governance and the rampant corruption in public offices. Through

federalism, the division of new powers and functions between the Federal Government

and States will bring a greater part of the government and decision-making closer to the

people. With more power, authority and resources managed by the leaders in the States

and their local governments which will be more visible and accessible to the people all

over the country, the people will be more aware importance of electing good leaders and

corruption will be easier to detect and expose and punish.

 The issue of political, economic, social and cultural development. Federalism will

promote inter-State and regional competition in attracting domestic and foreign

investments and industries, professional and skilled workers, artists, scholars and tourists

improving the economic status of each State, provide employment opportunities to all,

promote cultural development and slowly raise the lives of Filipino people from poverty.

Federalism is not proposed as a cure for all the ailments besieging our country because

there is no such thing as a cure all. Rather, it is a way of slowly and painstakingly
transforming our formal electoral democracy to a functional substantive democracy in

order to effect changes and improve the lives of Filipinos.