For months, the country has been preoccupied with discussions on a host of government programs and operations, notably the anti-drugs campaign along with charges of human rights violations.
We had a war that lasted five months in Marawi City after Islamic State (IS)-inspired terrorist-separatist Maute fighters sought to set up an Islamic State (IS) regional caliphate in our country. We sought to make peace with the New People’s Army (NPA) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), but the talks have now been set aside after the Communists called for “coalition government.”
The Philippines has emerged with a new image on the foreign scene, one with a more independent foreign policy that has led to closer relations with China and Russia, while retaining its ties with the United States. On the local economic front, we are ending 2017 with a notable 6.9 percent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, the second best in Asia. And we are beginning a massive infrastructure program that will raise the GDP further and, more important, provide employment that will help raise the lives of our people.
We are now beginning to turn to an issue that may cause deep divisions in the county – setting up a federal system of government through amendment of the Constitution. President Duterte, as early as the election campaign, had announced this as a basic program of his administration. He seeks to achieve more equitable progress for all parts of the country and he believes this can best be achieved through more independent regions united in a federal system of government.
Former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. , in an address last week before a joint business forum in Makati City, raised what may well be the principal points against federalism. It will divide our people and cause double loyalties – to the regional state and to the national government – he said. It will result in a horrible federal bureaucracy with several layers of government at great cost in government resources and income. And these are only two of 18 reasons he raised.
We might add that the nations of the world today with federal systems of government, like Swizerland, Germany, and the United States, were originally separate and independently functioning states which decided to unite in a federal state for greater strength. In the Philippines, we will be going in the opposite direction – from national strength and unity to separate regions some of whom may not be able to economically support themselves.
In any case, this is only the beginning of what may be a long national debate. President Duterte’s call for a federal form of government is linked to his desire to correct what he calls a “historical injustice” to the Moro people of Mindanao. This could be achieved by the Bangsamoro Basic Law which he has asked Congress to enact. But the President may push for much greater regional autonomy in a federal system of government under a new Constitution.
The national debate has begun. With the participation of all honest, thinking, patriotic, concerned citizens and their leaders, we should be able to reach a consensus on this most basic issue in the life of our country.
