Elijah Inacay 12-Jose Rizal EAPP Critique Paper

Critique on Debate 2019: Federalism

On August 30, 2019, the selected students from 12-Jose Rizal debated on the

implementation of federalism in the Philippines. They argued whether the current unitary

government in the sovereignty should be changed into a federal system such as that of the United

States of America, India, and Malaysia. They presented claims on its advantages and

disadvantages in the Filipino society.

The government, the side in favor of the federal system, argued its ability to cater to the

specific needs of every polity which will promote focused development of the states, a spread of

economic growth, and cultural development within areas. The opposition, the side against

federalism in the Philippines, countered this with its possibility of increasing existing economic

gaps. They added that resources may be unevenly distributed among areas and cause disparity, to

which the government emphasized on the premise of writing a constitution which will prevent

this unequal allocation of resources. The government also stated the ability of a federal system to

distribute powers across different levels of government and stabilizing the government itself.

This distribution of power will give more power to political dynasties, according to the

opposition, and will strengthen existing divisions between areas and weaken national unity. In

addition, they stated the concern that areas may ultimately wish to separate from the federal

government and exercise absolute autonomy, to which the government responded with the

necessity of the government’s approval of such separation, and the existence of an agreement on

union in the form of a written constitution. Another claim from the government states that
polities to be established would be able to independently exercise political power. As a response,

the opposition mentioned that regions still lack the ability to act independently. The opposition

also added that Filipinos are still ignorant of federalism, the budget required to implement it

would result in additional taxations, and other developing countries have failed in a federal

system such as Brazil and Iraq. Overall, both sides were able to give promising arguments and

were able to make it virtually difficult to choose a winner. However, the government was able to

cite sources with more legal gravity, as opposed to the opposition’s experts. The government was

also able to give slightly stronger arguments and respond to the opposition’s claims more

directly. The opposition’s mention of the equalization fund seem to actually disprove their claim

and weaken their stance. This does not entail, however, that the opposition failed miserably, as it

is quite the opposite. The opposition was very skilled in defending their claims with valid

evidences. Although, it was not enough for them to win and the government was ultimately

chosen as the winner of the debate. It is a rather reasonable yet difficult choice given the

arguments and sources of the debaters.

Federalism is a great system for handling territories especially with great divisions.

However, whether it is great for the current setting of the Philippines, it is still arguable. This

debate helped the debaters and the audience gain some insight on the politics in the country and

ponder on the future of the government. It is imperative that the youth be involved in discussions

as such as it is their future which is at stake.