Federalism In Philippines

The argument of reconsidering the establishment of a federal system of government in the archipelago has set in its highest peak when the Duterte administration has finally stepped into office. The campaign of the Duterte administration especially to the legislators of the Philippine Congress has hastily commenced, with an emphasis from the president’s will to implement such system in five to six years before his term’s completion. As a Filipino born and compelled to be complacent with the unitary form of government, this vehement move from the president has flourished different queries from my mind, such as “How will it work?”, “What are its pros and cons?” and the most dangerous question would be, “Will it solved the nation’s problem of secession

The principle of there is no harm in trying is inutile and inoperable in such instance for there is no such thing as take twos or recycle bins in implementing directives that might make or break a country’s state and future. Only one verity is for certain that the transition of the Philippine government into a federal system would entail both advantages and disadvantages culturally, socio-economically, and politically. Thus, a necessity for a scrupulous scrutiny is compulsory, especially that every vital matter which concerns every Filipino is at stake.

Background on Federalism Coined from the Latin term “foedus”, meaning treaty, pact, or covenant, federalism was initially perceived as a mere inter-governmental partnership or agreement among sovereign states during 18th century. It was in the 19th century that the modern context of federalism as a composition of various

Such systems has been dated as early as the Spanish period when the independence from the Spanish Empire and conception of a Philippine republic were of main concerns. Even the national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal had reiterated on his prescient essay, Las Filipinas Dentro de Cien Anos, that a federal Philippines is a considerable possibility, possibly due to the influence of his political mentor, Francesc Pi y Margall, who was a federalist. After the death of the national hero, Emilio Aguinaldo, adopted such idea. Despite such pursuance, the Malolos Congress decided to establish a unitary state due to the impending and foreseen American interests in the country. Meanwhile, during the American colonialism, proposals were made for a federal system, yet, these were abated by the highly centralized unitary administration. This is also true in the succeeding 1973 and 1985 constitutional revisions where a paradigm shift from a unitary state was far from possible (Trillana, 2016). It was just until this 21st century that, once again, the elaboration of a federal Philippines has caught the interest of the many. Two of the staunch advocates are former senator, Aquilino Pimentel, Jr and University of the Philippines professor, Jose Abueva. On one of his papers, Abueva (2000) pointed out that “instead of making the change in a rush, as some advocate, I