Sunday, October 22, 2017

Federalism will destroy the Philippines

I know this is a long shot, but if someone aske me what kind of government you want this country to have, there is just one answer--- a unitary one, but with two (2) systems: one, for the civil administration of non-Muslim areas including the indigenous peoples and second, an Islamic sub-state. Federalism, for all its good intentions and functionalities, is not yet for us.  This is patterned after China--one country, two systems.

For one, where are the infrastructures for Federalism? While I'm writing this, there is none. Transitioning from Republican to a Federalist form takes billions of pesos and at least two (2) years. Imagine the tons of work government needs to do just to transition to this kind of governance model. At this point, government is not keeping up with the current and existing demands of this system and you will burden them with establishing a new one?

Really now, Federalism is not the sure-fire solution to the myriad of problems besetting our country today. It would result to clashes, even armed ones, between traditional political forces and government forces. Traditional political families have embedded their economic interests with their political futures and transforming our society from the present to a Federalist one will encounter terrible consequences that could tear this country further apart.

Our political groups are not matured enough for Federalism. Most of our leaders still think government as their own personal treasury from where they draw funds to keep their families rich.

The only ones who like Federalism are those pseudo-leaders sick with narcistic neurosis. These people think that they are entitled to their own turf where they can do whatever they want. Well, carving this country into separate fiefdoms will solve nothing. It will even destabilize and eventually break this country into war zones.

In the interim, why not strengthen local governments? You don't need new legislation for that. You only need these local leaders to think of their localities first, before they think of getting billions from the public coffers.

Most Federalist advocates raise the problem of funds allocation, as the main rationale behind the shift to Federalism. If that is the only reason, then, why not improve the DBM? Strengthen the policy making function of the Executive. Reverse the existing formula of giving more funds to developed cities and municipalities based on their GNPs. We don't need to undergo the complicated and messy process of transitioning to Federalism just to solve a funding allocation problem.

We can do that now without Federalism.

You know why these people want Federalism? They are being misled by miners who want to carve out mines throughout the country without the interference of the national government.

Who wants Federalism? These are traditional families with strong economic influence and hold over the regional economies. With Federalism, no one can now hold them accountable for the large-scale thievery and manipulation of public funds in their respective and corresponding localities. Under Federalism, who will then criticize states under the monopolistic rule of their leaders? No one. Will we empower the National Federal Government to interfere? We will have a problem likened to Spain in relation to Catalan.


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