Explainer

 The  Resurrection  of  Federalism  

THAT  was  from.  
 
I.  That  Federal  urge  
[Declaration_independence]  
I’D  suppose  an  image  like  this  one,  is  what  most  of  us  associate  
with  the  word  Federalism  and  Federal.  But  when  these  
worthies  –the  gentlemen  here  immortalized  as  the  signers  of  
America’s  declaration  of  independence-­‐  put  pen  to  paper,  
whatever  association  they  had  in  mind  was  different  from  the  
kind  of  association  America  actually  became.  
This  painting  commemorates  1776,  but  the  Continental  
Congress  this  independence  declaration  produced  had  to  work  
through  two  constitutions  before  the  United  States  of  America  
became  a  truly  Federal  Republic  in  1789.  And  they  had  to  go  
through  a  Civil  War  to  really  settle  issues  between  the  states,  
left  over  from  the  birth  of  the  North  American  Union.  
I’ve  been  enjoying  this  book,  “American  Creation,”  which  
chronicles  the  main  issues  that  hounded  America’s  founding  
fathers.  But  even  as  it’s  delightful  to  ponder  what  Washington,  
Jefferson,  Adams  and  others  were  quarreling  over  in  the  18th  
century,  why  is  Federalism  appealing  to  us?  
[spanish_flag]  
The  conquest  of  the  territories  that  now  compose  the  
Philippines  was  undertaken  by  the  Spanish  on  a  kingdom-­‐by-­‐
kingdom  basis.  And  upon  getting  local  royalty  to  accept  
Spanish  sovereignty,  the  Spanish  then  reorganized  territory  
into  provinces.  At  first,  the  nerve  center  of  these  territories  
was  Cebu,  and  then,  it  became  Manila.  
[commonewealth_manolo]  
The  Americans,  in  conquering  the  Philippines,  built  on  what  
the  Spanish  had  established  and  created  new  provinces  of  their  
own  –Rizal  Province  is  a  good  example.  They  formalized  local  
and  provincial  governments,  taking  away  the  participation  of  
the  Catholic  Church.  Again,  everything  was  administered  from  
Manila.  
[commonewealth_02]  
When  we  successfully  negotiated  the  restoration  of  our  
independence,  the  writers  of  the  1935  Constitution  were  
concerned  with  keeping  the  country  together,  since  the  issue  of  
independence  would  soon  be  an  accomplished  fact.  They  
decided  they  preferred  a  strong  state.  
[Unitarystates]  
And  so,  our  development  has  led  us  to  being  classified  as  a  
unitary  state,  one  where  there  is  a  strong  central  government.  
[Marcos-­‐afp]  
Perhaps  the  greatest  innovation  to  the  way  our  country’s  been  
organized  was  the  creation  of  regions  by  President  Marcos.    
[Ph_regions_and_provinces]  
This  was  a  way  to  neutralize  the  tendency  of  provincial  leaders  
to  resist  national  interference:  or  put  another  way,  to  force  
inwardly-­‐looking  local  leaders  to  somehow  work  together,  at  
least  on  a  regional  basis.  Since  then,  we’ve  adopted  the  concept  
of  autonomous  areas,  of  which  the  ARMM  is  a  prime  example.  
[Aguinaldo]  
But  this  doesn’t  address  Federalism.  The  Spanish  never  
thought  of  it;  the  Americans  who  lived  by  it  didn’t  transplant  it  
here,  so  where  did  it  come  from?  
Our  revolution  began  with  eight  provinces  placed  under  
martial  law.  It  spread.  We  had  three  wars  of  independence.  
First  was  the  Katipunan-­‐led  revolution,  from  1896-­‐1897.  Then  
there  was  the  Aguinaldo  dictatorship  from  1898-­‐1899.  Both  
against  Spain.  And  then  there  was  our  First  Republic’s  
resistance  to  American  conquest.  
It  was  during  the  third  war  of  independence,  when  the  Malolos  
Republic  ruled  much  of  Luzon,  that  President  Aguinaldo  had  to  
try  to  find  a  way  to  include  the  rest  of  the  archipelago.  The  
Visayan  Federal  Republic  was  constituted  in  Iloilo  and  had  to  
be  convinced  to  recognize  the  government  in  Malolos,  which  it  
did.  Aguinaldo  was  less  successful  in  courting  the  cooperation  
of  the  Sultan  of  Sulu.    
[-­‐-­‐Phil  Post  honors  Araneta  as  ...a  visionary  who  lived  a  life  
dedicated  to  spreading  the  gospel  o]  
With  the  defeat  of  the  First  Republic,  and  with  the  creation  of  a  
strong  central  government  in  1935,  thinkers  and  leaders  like  
Salvador  Araneta  remained  dissatisfied  with  the  setup,  and,  
looking  back  to  what  might  have  been  in  the  1890s,  revived  
Federalism  as  a  way  to  organize  our  country  in  the  1960s  and  
1970s.    
The  idea  has  remained  interesting  to  some  in  the  Visayas  and  
of  increasing  interest  to  some  in  Mindanao.  
[141107_02jr_640]  
President  Arroyo,  for  one,  has  been  moderately  interested  in  
Federalism  and  in  2005  and  2006,  expressed  support  for  it.  
[102307-­‐1jr_640]  
But  her  past  and  present  allies,  have  been  more  interested  in  
parliamentary  government  than  a  Federal  system.  Former  
President  Ramos,  for  one,  has  been  ambivalent  about  
federalism.  Former  Speaker  de  Venecia,  in  2006,  tried  to  
engineer  a  shift  to  parliamentary  government  but  nearly  
sparked  People  Power.  
[080308_03co_640]  
So  what  might  be  President  Arroyo’s  own  preferences,  her  own  
devout  wish?  We  might  find  out  in  July,  when  she  delivers  her  
state  of  the  nation  address.  But  what’s  interesting  is  that  the  
Senate,  which  fought  constitutional  change  in  2006,  has  taken  
the  lead  in  reviving  Federalism.    
What  that  proposal  is,  is  what  we’ll  tackle  when  we  return.  
II.  Pimentel’s  Proposal  
THAT  was  from.    
The  Senate  proposal,  per  news  reports,  is  as  follows.  The  
country  will  be  subdivided  into  eleven  federal  states.  Let’s  take  
a  look  at  these  states,  since  you  and  I  might  wake  up  one  day  
finding  ourselves  residents  of  one  of  them.  Here  they  are,  with  
their  state  capitals,  too.  
1.          The  State  of  Northern  Luzon  ;  
 2.          The  State  of  Central  Luzon  ;  
3.          The  State  of  Southern  Tagalog;  
4.          The  State  of  Bicol  ;  
 5.          The  State  of  Minparom  ;  
 6.          The  State  of  Eastern  Visayas  ;  
 7.          The  State  of  Central  Visayas  ;  
 8.          The  State  of  Western  Visayas  ;  
 9.          The  State  of  Northern  Mindanao  ;  
  10.  The  State  of  Southern  Mindanao  ;  and  
 11.  The  State  of  BangsaMoro      
12.  The  Federal  Administrative  Region,  Metro-­‐Manila.  
The  executive  department,  that  is,  the  presidency,  will  remain  
in  Metro  Manila.  Congress,  however,  will  be  in  Tagbilaran  City,  
out  of  sight  and  perhaps,  out  of  mind.  
Where  do  these  proposals  leave  our  regions  (17  at  present)?  
Shouldn’t  they  have  provided  a  basis  for  new  Federal  States?  
After  all,  provinces  have  evolved  a  relationship  with  each  other  
based  on  the  present  regions.    
One  obstacle  is  that  forming  new  states  –a  case  of  
consolidating  territory  and  resources-­‐  clashes  with  the  
tendency  of  provincial  politicians  to  protect  themselves  by  
gerrymandering  smaller  and  smaller  provinces.  We  have  gone  
from  52  provinces  in  1951  to  81  provinces  as  of  2007.    
Indonesia  and  Malaysia  haven’t  gerrymandered  on  this  scale;  
Thailand  has  actually  reduced  the  number  of  its  provinces  (see  
my  column,  “Gerrymandering,”  08/06/07).  Federalism  ignores  
this  reality  altogether.  
Returning  to  the  proposed  states,  each  state  will  elect  six  
senators.  Filipinos  overseas  will  elect  nine  senators.  The  
Senate  would  thus  go  from  the  24  members  it’s  had  since  1916,  
to  a  membership  of  75.  As  an  appetizer  for  the  House,  which  
would  have  a  maximum  of  350  members,  the  term  limit  
(currently  three  terms)  would  be  raised  to  a  maximum  of  four  
terms,  still  at  three  years  per  term  for  representatives  
(Senators  will  stay  at  a  maximum  of  two  terms  of  six  years  per  
term).  
And  finally,  since  we  should  all  follow  the  money,  one  big  
reason  Federalism  is  attractive,  is  that  provinces  think  it’s  a  
way  to  guarantee  they  keep  more  money  for  themselves.  
Here’s  a  couple  of  slides  from  Senator  Pimentel’s  proposal,  
which  details  how  the  distribution  of  our  taxes  would  take  
place.  
Take  a  look.  
But  you  may  have  noticed  that  as  former  national  treasurer  
Liling  Briones  recently  put  it,  what  these  proposals  do  is  add  a  
new  layer  to  our  government.  We’ve  had  to  live  with  national  
and  local  governments;  you’d  now  have  state  governments,  
since  existing  provinces  will  be  retained  within  the  proposed  
Federal  States.  
And  the  implications  of  adding  and  not  reducing  our  
government  costs,  is  what  we’ll  tackle  when  we  return.  
 
III.  Interview  
IV.  My  view  
EVEN  as  the  House  is  poised  to  begin  discussions  with  the  
Senate  on  Senator  Pimentel’s  Federalism  proposal,  the  public  
has  a  lot  of  catching  up  to  do,  beginning  with  getting  its  hands  
on  the  actual  text  of  the  Senate’s  resolution  and  then  dissecting  
it.  The  public  needs  to  do  this,  because  once  the  House  starts  
haggling  with  the  Senate  over  Federalism,  the  public  could  end  
up  squeezed  out  of  the  discussion.  
Since  the  Senate  has  put  Federalism  back  on  the  table,  
revisiting  the  issue  will  be  useful.  At  present,  the  concept  of  
Federalism  is  still  too  alien  and  abstract  for  the  public  at  large  
to  really  get  excited  about  it,  even  as  quite  a  few  people  have  
gotten  obsessed  with  the  idea.  Reintroducing  the  idea  to  the  
public  will  help  focus  attention  on  the  many  proposals  being  
put  forward  to  improve  our  political  system  and  foster  
development  and  democratization  in  the  country.  
But  let’s  talk.