THE REAL CONCEPT OF FEDERALISM BEING ENVISIONED

Our national hero Jose Rizal had proposed to the Spaniards for a Federal system in the Philippines during that time but was not heeded to, hence, for 400 years since the time we were under the rule of Spain, the Philippines has been a unitary Presidential system of government, which means all the political and economic powers are in the hands and dispensed with by the Central Government headed by the president with the seat of power in Manila. That is why, all the people with all kinds of National concerns had to go to Manila for days, for weeks, and months, going back and forth spending borrowed money, precious time, and tiring effort to get a life and death necessity. 

Under the proposed Federal system of government, this is not anymore the case. We don’t have to go to Manila anymore for whatever concerns we have under the sun because almost everything the Central government had in its power will now be transferred and exercised by law by the various Regional States that will be created by Congress under the approved Federal Republic Constitution. In effect, our Federalism is a means towards greater development and where public services are rendered more efficiently by the government instrumentality nearest to the people being served. Forthrightly, under Federalism, each Regional State with its corresponding head has sovereignty of its own, work for its own, shaped and developed its Region on its own according to its culture, customs and traditions, and conduct its political and economic affairs according to what is best for the welfare and development that only the rule of law is its limitation; and it shall be accountable for the efficient and honest governance of the Province, Cities, Municipalities, and Barangays within its territory and boundaries.

Premises duly considered, how in the world can ex-Chief Justice Hilario Davide say that the proposed Federal system of government is the path to dictatorship when in fact the powers of the executive and even the legislative will be mostly transferred in the hands of the Regional States? I would say, his apprehension was just purely based on speculation, surmises, and conjectures, and this is even a fly in the face of reason on his part not only as a lawyer but also as a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with all due respect to him. We, lawyers, do not deal on anything except established facts because allegations, speculations, surmises, and conjectures have no place in our judicial system. Nevertheless, the Honorable Davide is now shouting didactically to his heart’s content to the whole world about a situation which is clearly and emphatically the opposite of what he believes otherwise. Dictatorship as commonly understood is a ‘One-Man Rule’ system of government. But in the Federal system, it is a decentralization and distribution of powers among the Regional States of the Democratic Republic of our country.