After
being colonized by many different countries, Philippines finally attain its
freedom on June 12, 1898. Starting from the time that the first Philippine
president is elected, the Philippines is practicing the democratic freedom
because of its democratic form of government. As defined by the Merriam Webster
Dictionary, democracy is a form
government in which the supreme power is vested in
the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of
representation usually involving periodically held free elections. Therefore,
the power is on the people. With what most people say that “This is a free
country (Philippines). We can do what we want.” Well, basically, we cannot do
whatever we want to do because we have laws that we need to strictly abide for
the maintenance of peace and security of our country,
After
almost 118 years since the declaration of our independence, a lot of changes were
already clearly seen in the Philippines right now. And with the new Philippine
president, Pres. Rodrigo Duterte, bearing his political campaign “Change is
coming”, the Philippines is slowly changing in different aspects. One facet
that the new administration wants to change is the form of government of our
country. They want to change it from democracy to federalism. This suggestion
was already raised by different senators and representatives like Sen. Koko
Pimentel, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, Sen. Bongbong Marcos, Bacolod City
Representative Monico Puentevella and even during the administration of former
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. But a lot of people is against this thing
for it will create a chaos in terms of changing the form of government. Again,
under the administration of Duterte, this issue is raised. The question now is, are we going to be a
federal country?
Federalism
is a form of government where sovereignty is constitutionally shared between a
central governing authority and constituent political units called states or
regions. In a simpler term, there will be a central government which will be
headed by the president elected and there will also be state governments which will
be supervised by the head of the local government. As per Rappler’s report, according
to the resolution submitted by Sen. Pimentel Jr., there will be 11 state or
regional governments representing the 11 regions of the Philippines and the
Federal Administrative Region of Metro Manila. With federalism, the power will
not only rely on the president but also divided among the different heads of the
state governments. We can compare federalism state with a company. The president
will be the Chief Executive Officer, who oversees everything in the company and
the head of each offices will be the head of each department, who supervises
the work of their respective departments.
Even
though federalism was not favored by most of the people, there are a lot of
advantages that this kind of government can give to the country. The first one,
which is I think the most important feature of federalism is the division of
power. Federalism’s main purpose is to give almost equal power to its state
governments so that they will not heavily rely to the central government. The
task of the central government will be lessen and it can focus in attaining its
national goals for the betterment of the whole Filipino community. The heads of
each regional governments will be responsible for its own region. They can
focus on making their region a better one among the others.
Secondly,
the local government can already decide on their own. Because of the division
of the power, the local government does not have to ask permission from the
president before a certain project or law can be passed on. They have the independence
in decision-making. They don’t need to
wait for the confirmation from the central government anymore. This will be a great
advantage because not all laws implemented by the president is applicable to
other regions or provinces. Therefore, the state governments can implement laws
that they think is suitable for their region. Moreover, immediate actions could
be given to the problems.
Another
advantage that federalism can bring is to bring the government closer to the
people. In a country like Philippines which is an archipelago with 7, 107
islands, the central government can accommodate or even give a little bit time
to each and every people’s problem for its main focus is for the benefit of all
countrymen. Thus, the local government can cater the problems of their own
people and can act immediately unto it. People will be given a faster and
reliable solution to whatever problem they had. It will create camaraderie and
people will fell that the government is just at their backs whatever happens.
Lastly,
due to the division of power, the local government has more power over its
resources and funds. They can use their funds without consulting the central
government as long as it can cause good assistance to its people. The state
government can use their resources freely and can even look for alternative ways
to get more resources or funds which the government can use for specific
projects that their place needs.
With
all the advantages that federalism can bring to our country, there are also
disadvantages that most of the people are afraid of. First is confusion of
power. Though division of power is absolutely good, if it does not clearly
states whatever the central government and the state government’s jurisdiction,
it can cause pandemonium in both governing body. Before the changing of government,
if federalism will be favored, the higher authorities must create a visible
line that states the power of the central and regional governments to avoid
disarray.
Next
one is federalism can strengthen the political dynasties in each regional
state. One of the things that Filipinos hate is political dynasty. The passing
of power from generations to generations of same family. With federalism, it
will help promote political dynasties especially those small regions. Through
political dynasties, it will be prone to corruption and misuse or overuse of
power. Thus, only one will benefit will all the resources and funds intended
for the whole community.
Another
thing is, it prevents the creation of national policy. Because the power is already
distributed among the head of the state governments, they will have all the
authority to pass bills and laws without the consultation of the central
government. With the creation of different laws on all of the state
governments, national policy will not be implemented particularly on regions in
which the same or contradicting policy is applied. The central government will
no longer be effective and all the power will be on the state governments.
Finally,
the main disadvantage that federalism can give is the cost of it. Changing from
one form of government to another is not that easy. There will be a lot of
changes in the administration and all other aspects of the government. With this
change, there should be a lot of money to make federalism work. The funds must
be distributed equally to the 11 state governments and the budget for different
departments will be lessen. This will be a huge adjustment not only to the
people on the authority but also all among the Filipino citizen.
Federalism
can bring good changes or even better changes to the Philippines. They say that
only big countries needs this kind of government but for me, Philippines needs
this also. This will be essential for those who are far away from the central
government for they will accommodated easily with their problems. I am in favor
of federalism. But my only concern whenever federalism will be implemented,
will the central government still be effective? Even if the power is already dispersed
on its state governments?
Whatever will be the
verdict upon the implementation of federalism, as long as it will turn out good
and will benefit the Filipino citizen, then we should let it be done. But if it
will just create another big problem, then let us just forget about it. The decision
relies on the hands of the president. I hope, the president will consider all
the possible advantages and disadvantages that this “change” can give.
