Is Davao City Mayor Rudy Duterte right on Federalism/Federalization? For me its yes and I will support him should he decide to run for President come 2016. Former SJ Puno on Federalization- Most of us Filipinos believe that Charter Change is not needed but rather, a change of politicians or a change of culture. But when will this happen? Next year? 5 years later? I believe that in order for this to happen, we will need an enabler. This enabler is called “Charter Change”. It may not be the magic solution to the ills of our society but it is an enabler, a stepping stone to a true progressive society. The question that you’re probably asking is why do we even need to change the constitution? It’s just 20+ years old. It allows freedom and equality through the bill of rights. It allows people suffrage so why change it? Let’s be honest, have you read the rest of the constitution BESIDES the Bill of Rights or the Constitutional Preamble? Whenever I ask the common Filipino of let’s say “what are some of the contents of Article XII, Sections 1 to 22 of the 1987 Constitution?” They just don’t know. It seems that I have to admit that most of us Filipinos are uninformed of some of the important aspects of the constitution and what our current constitution lacks. Decentralization of the Capital and More Representation of the Provinces, or in other words, Federalization: Whether we acknowledge it or not, our constitution is overly-centric on Manila. It lacks laws that represent other regions more fully. It has no laws that encourage the spread of our economy to the other parts of the country which is one of the reasons why Manila is over-congested; because there aren’t much job offers in the other regions which is why our regional countrymen are forced to migrate to Manila which is becoming more congested everyday. We are a multi-ethnic country so the need for adding federal aspects to our constitution is purely common sense. Federalization is key to spreading economic wealth throughout the country by encouraging regions to compete one another with barely any help from the federal government. It gives more representation for our local brothers and sisters who want to voice out their opinions about the country like the Cebuanos, Ilocanos, Bangsamoros etc. Federalization will also solve the situation between the MILF and the Philippines due to the fact since 2008, the MILF has quit its claim for an independent state and instead, would prefer an autonomy similar to a US State. So federalization will encourage more peace in Mindanao. Through federalization, “Imperial Manila” will be no more. As for the Filipinos who claim that federalization will just make warlords “more powerful”, this is actually false. The so called warlords are only powerful because of the money they get from the national budget. Through federalization, they will only have a federal budget. Overall, even if they steal the money from the federal budget, this will still not be enough to supply their arms and payments for their private armies due to that fact most of the revenues come from businesses in their region. And since businessmen will be turned off in investing in a “chaotic region”, these warlords will be forced to create order just so businessmen will invest. These so called warlords will actually be forced to do their job. Job creation means money for the common Filipino; money for the common Filipino means they can send their children to school; school equals education and an enhancement to intellectual ability. Knowledge is power and the common Filipino will be more awakened and probably, a means to a change of politicians. Of course, when it comes to federalization, I prefer a Quasi-Federal state over a Full Federal state so that the ability to secede is impossible. But why will they secede in the first place if they’re well represented in the government and their economy is booming? Federalization removes some form of corruption, gives a better representation to the regions which enhances the unity of our nation. The adding of federal aspects is probably the easiest to convince the common Filipino because our regional countrymen will probably support something like this. It even had the support of our current president (President Noynoy) when he was a Senator: It’s baffling though why he refuses to add or change some aspects of the constitution today when he himself used to be an advocate.
Posted on: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 01:02:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015