Introduction
In the present time, the world is facing different challenges particularly when it comes to governance how to solve and address different problems of a country is dependent on the form of government it has. Since, this kind of form of government solves different aspects of the problems in terms of economic, social, and political. At the same time, it also affects the delivery of basic services to the people. As time goes by, as globalization expands, there’s a need to change the system if it is found to be ineffective, especially in the division of powers and following the dynamics between the national government and the local government units using proposing a country who has a unitary system transferring to a federal system.
Federalism is defined as the division of powers between the Federal government or the National Government and the State Government or the local government units (Lazo, 2009). The function of the Federal government focuses on the larger scope of the territories while the function of the State Government pertains to the smaller ones that address only a specific state in which this government also enjoys its autonomy without the interference of the national government and having their own state executive, legislature and judiciary. It is different from the unitary system in that its greater power is on the central government while the local government has also power under that system, it is limited, restricted, and controlled by the national government. According to Law (2013), Federalism refers to a political system that has “equality of status” between the elements of the government.
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One of the popular and best examples of a Federal form of government is America. According to Lazo (2009), each state in America enjoys a greater form of autonomy than having its own State Executive known as the Governor together with its Judicial and Legislative system. However, they should obey and bend their own State Law to the most superior power and authority of the Federal Government, as conferred upon it by the Federal Constitution of the United States of America. Federalism provides an overview of what termed a division of power in which the Federal Government has exclusive power is only and solely to the national government and concurrent power in which both layers can exercise this power.
On the other hand, according to Elefante (2018), in the discussion titled Federal Rising in the Philippines, a conference about different views on federalism that focuses on three countries which are Germany, Canada, and France, in the view of federalism in Germany as what Benedikt Seeman stated that in adapting federalism, Filipinos should first collect ideas, to make it work, one must look on the differences, Federalism is not free, it has a cost and is appropriate with the parliamentary system. In Germany, this country has 16 states which is not an administrative division. There are also executive and shared powers, every state has its state constitution and government and Federal law is supreme. The way of the government is not top-down, it is from the bottom up as Seeman added.
Seeman as cited in Elefante (2018), also elaborated that in the Federal Republic of Germany, state governments work in the legislation and administration of the Federation in the place what they called “Bundesrat” in which each delegate sent from a different state government comes here, in which these delegates are not elected and selected which ranges from three to six depending on the population size of a state government.
The website of the official Bundesrat as cited in Elefante (2018), stated the two-fold roles of all Bundesrat members like on their political role for the federal state and at the level of national politics while holding the office in a federal state. These members also have comprehensive political responsibility. “They cannot overlook the impact that political activities relating to their federal state will have on national politics, and, similarly, in their state ministries, they feel the direct impact of the federal policy they help to shape,” what the German government website added.
When it comes to the mechanism for the redistribution of financial means between the government and the members of the federation, there is an equalization of the payment scheme as Seeman added to Elefante (2018). Furthermore, there are also supplementary grants of the federal and state government can be vertical or horizontal Seeman noted.
In Canada Julian Payne, president of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines noted that the version of federalism comes in different ways. As also stated in Elefante (2018), federalism in Canada comprises the split of sovereign power and the principle in which the federal government cannot overrule the state government that if there’s a conflict between the former and the latter it is settled in the Constitutional Court which makes it different from Germany. Another idea was that Canada’s government system evolved and changed from a colony to a federal system of cultures, external events, and history. This country has a non-elected head of state and an elected head of government. Canada has provinces and territories together with the symmetry of powers in which some of the provinces have and some don’t, the delegation of powers is also observed. Aside from that, in terms of wealth sharing of provinces and territories Canada has financial arrangements for vertical and horizontal movement.
Check and balance in the government, wealth sharing, customization of the national policies, and making local governments nearer to the people are the four significant points of Canada. To an effective decentralization, federalism is seen as an alternative way although it is not the only alternative. Payne also noted that Canada has a senate that is elected by the regional parliament. However, there’s also a party discipline that provides a relationship on the check and balance of the state and provincial government. To settle differences, provincial premiers can negotiate with the Prime Minister. Federalism brings an enormous impact on business through labor laws and federal income tax under federal or provincial jurisdiction.
Despite Germany and Canada as Federal, France is a unitary form of government. The representative named Laurent Le Godec of the Charge d’ Affaires of the Embassy of France to the Philippines elaborated ideas in response to the issue of balancing a strong executive with a decentralized government from a French perspective.
Godec stated that Federal constitutions are adaptable and must fit the current conditions at the time the charter was written also since France is unitary but decentralized which makes it suitable in many categories.
On the evolution of the French form of Government, Godec explained that, on the question of the form of government at the state level and its relationship with the local government is that there was a deadlock in the parliamentary system which is why it has to change the government and also on the loss of North Africa and the controversy in 1958 with Charles de Gaulle.
In response to the claim of balance between firm state power and a strong parliamentary hybrid system, Godec stated that there is a President as the head of state and the Prime Minister as the head of government, and the executive power is divided among them. Thus, the prime minister is responsible for defense and foreign policy and is liable to the national government since the president appointed the prime minister. Flexibility and political maturity are required in this system.
As being considered to be a semi-presidential parliamentary system, Godec believed that the Federal Constitution could adapt to what is essential, the need to have a strong executive in which the Prime Minister implements the broad guidelines set by the president. However, while the relationship between local government and state government is unitary, there’s also a problem in economic wealth sharing and how to deal with the struggle for inclusive growth as Godec added.
In terms of the works of local government, since France’s objective is decentralization with no federalism, it has regions and local governments are tasked to deal with social and cultural issues. The civil servants are trained on the local level not on the national while the local government also deals with the businesses, not with the state government. The three countries provide different views on how federalism works, the requirements for doing that, and the challenges as well as the alternatives. The ideas mentioned will be beneficial in the attainment of solutions by considering federalism as an alternative way to conquer present problems.
The Philippine government nowadays deals with numerous challenges like unbalanced allocation of funds, the diversity conflict, and the income for every city, municipality, and province. The need to transfer the current unitary system to the federal system provides some reasons to consider according to some experts.
The problem here is how the government will adopt that certain kind of government and will be an effective way to solve issues on diversity specifically on the disputes among Muslims in Mindanao and what challenges the Philippines has to face since changing a form of government is not that easy, a lot of studies and considerations of consequences should be addressed.
Federalization in the Philippines
The proposal of transferring from a unitary to a Federal form of government is not new in the Philippines. It started with President Laurel, in the regime of Marcos as May (2007) stated and in the time of Aquino, as democracy was restored, the new local government code of 1991 was created to promote decentralization so that the government could reach out to the people and history several attempts on experimentation of autonomy to address the problems with the Philippine Muslims and other cultural minorities. The Charter change was also held in the time of Arroyo and in the present time President Duterte is also called a constitutional convention to review the 1987 Constitution and there’s a draft for that. Federalism offers a way of dealing with the persisting problems of regional dissidence and promoting participation in government. (May, 2007).
According to Brillantes and Moscare, Federalism would solve the problem caused by the geographic location of the Philippines and break the unequal distribution of powers since the national government is centralized in Manila which is why others termed it “Imperial Manila”. The ideas propelled by Brillantes and Moscare explained further the need to change the system of government that the Philippines. To ease the problem of addressing issues, the government also created the Local Government Code of 1991 which ended up with few successes and was only effective in enormous urban areas while the other local government units were left behind as stated by Lazo (2009).
The paper titled “Federalism versus autonomy in the Philippines”, the article briefly discussed several points in history about the separation of Philippine Muslims or Moros as termed by the colonizers, also to the movements of government in attaining peace process, particularly the Tripoli agreement and the like, the evolution of local government code amendments which provide positive ground for the idea of Federalism. Hence, the paper sought to determine whether Federalism will work or not is left hanging and remains seen and there should also be several debates containing the freedom of the Moros the concerns of these constituents must be addressed. Federalism seems to be good in papers but in reality may not. As what May noted, Federalism is promoted to procreate the local political dynasties. In the discussions on Constitutional amendments, critics specifically, one of the commissioners named Romualdo, provided emphasis that federalism would not work since there are no sufficient resources, without resources it would be useless independent entities and other members said that if the difficulties to harmonize laws nationally when each state creates or drafts their legislation. (May, 2007)
Additionally, in terms of Decentralization and local autonomy, according to Buendia (1987), the need to consider federalism in the current unitary form and different policies on political decentralization provide different reasons which are the unequal power of the local government for imposing their tax that LGU’s can’t be self-reliant since the allocation of funds are still controlled by the national government which constitutes the heavy reliance of the local government in the national government that is to say the policies for the local government to turn to be ineffective and irrelevant and “Apparently, 'illusionary decentralization' manifests itself when the 'formal powers or administrative arrangements are purportedly decentralized but politically controlled or influenced by the center” (Buendia, 1987)
The advantages and opportunities in federalizing Philippine state
According to Abueva as cited in May (2007) in its CMPF draft constitution, provides six advantages of Federalism, First, a federal republic will bring an enduring framework for peace to solve the various problems of the diversity of ethnic, religious, and cultural particularly in the case of Bangsa Moro or the Philippine Muslims. A termed “Responsive Federalism” will cater to the true interest, end the armed conflicts, and not bring secessionism in Mindanao. Second, to uphold the political awareness, standard of living, efficacy in elections, and participation for the citizens’ empowerment and the making of significant decisions of the government. Also, the corruption will be reduced and the government can be improved.
Third, Federalism will challenge state and local leaders and entrepreneurs in the whole country by means of improved governance, and in financing the government programs and services for their direct benefit, people will be more encouraged to pay their taxes. Fourth, federalism will accelerate the development of the country since there will be competition between the inter-state and the region in attracting various professionals, workers, and great teachers as well as domestic and foreign investments and also the enrichment of regional languages and cultures in promoting the national language will be attained and the federal government, in terms of the less privilege, poor and needy in the under-developed regions will be supported. Fifth, the promotion of the development of program-oriented political parties that are accountable and responsible to the people for their performance and conduct in and out of power will be seen in federalism. Sixth, Federalism will broaden and deepen democracy and make its institutions deliver on the constitutional promise of human rights, a better life for all, a just and humane society, and responsible and accountable political leadership and governance. (CMFP Draft Constitution, February 2005, pp. 4–5 as cited in May 2007)
Additionally, according to Joel Rocamora as cited in May (2007), an academic activist and the head of the Institute of Popular Democracy, the current unitary and centralized form of government can be traced to the colonial past that has been used for control and dominance while the Federal system since the power is physically near to the people, it will promote dialogues and interactions with the regional leaders.
The disadvantages and challenges of Federalism in the Philippines
A discussion paper titled “Federalism and Inclusion in Developing Economies” by Fabella & Daway-Ducanes (2018) depicts the negative part of Federalism through empirical research and statistical evidence which contradicts the idea that Federalism will lower the poverty rate and income alleviation based on the regression bar. Although the pro-federalism claims expressed the effects of federalism in reducing poverty and equal distribution of income, the researchers elaborated that federalism will not lower the incidence of poverty and severity in average-level countries and concluded that it can cause a higher level of poverty incidences in developing economies since the Philippines is one of the developing economies, the findings of the researchers on the shift in federalism are that Federalism will fail that it can bring greater income inequality.
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