Federalism and Duterte

When asked who my candidate for president is, I answer without any hesitation – Rodrigo Duterte. There are many reasons but to me, the most important is his program for constitutional change to restructure politics and government in the country. It is a tall order but whoever undertakes it, and succeeds would have the gratitude of the Filipino nation.

It will not be a picnic but Rodrigo Duterte has categorically said he is opposed to the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (known as BBL). Instead he will put the country together for what I consider to be compromise solution and fight for federalism to bring peace in Mindanao.

In his speech after being proclaimed the standard-bearer of PDP-Laban political party, Duterte said he has no ambition to run for president, but decided to do so when his political party’s leaders urged him to run and push for federalism.

“Kinausap ako to carry the torch of federalism,” Duterte said. “I will build a nationwide consensus for federalism.” Unfortunately that single statement should have won applause from the nation but instead it was p.i, the most trite and insignificant word that dominated reports. This is where the campaign should focus (if we ever have an election) It should be a debate between Aquino’s (BBL) vs. Duterte’s (Federalism).

I have written on federalism in the past. Here is one “The case of Federalism as ISIS knocks.”

 “Each time there is an attempt to conclude an agreement between the Muslims in Mindanao and the Philippine government, it is stopped because of provisions that were unconstitutional. So we ask, why can’t they make it constitutional? That is the problem.

The objection against constitutional reform is the real stumbling block to a peace agreement. The Muslims want more independence while the government is stopped from granting it more independence because it may lead to secession.

Indeed both the Arroyo and Aquino governments were accused of selling down the country if it signed up with the Muslim rebels.

The solution is to establish a federal state for the Muslims, but as far as I know the Muslims or the government are not pursuing this line for negotiation. Federalism is like freedom, hard to define but handled properly is the way to go for organizing good governance for huge populations with different ethnic groups.

“With more than 80 million people (now 100 since then) to govern through a unitary system, ‘democracy’ is a very real problem.

To be democratic in the Athenian sense of the word, we must reduce the size of government into manageable units. To me that is what makes federalism so attractive to many countries today. The federalist principle empowers smaller units of community so governance is more efficient. It is also more ‘democratic’ because more citizens, are able to participate in governance.

In one of the debates then, I met Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, a Filipino-Canadian who served as a member of Parliament and a Cabinet minister in the administrations of Prime Ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.

I was invited to comment on Dr. Pagtakhan’s presentation about the dynamics of Canadian parliamentary politics, the qualifications and the powers of the Prime Minister, the role and functions of the Cabinet and their ministers, the issue of minority governments, and the role of the opposition and the party system. (BayanKo will invite him to a panel of experts who will draw up a new Constitution.)

The more we delay finding solutions in the Mindanao conflict, the graver the dangers we face with news that there is now an ISIS caliphate (the group of extremists behind gruesome murders in the Iraq-Syria war).

This is one noynoying that we cannot be dismissive about. According to the report some Moros have pledged allegiance to the Caliphate of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and joined the campaign to make the Caliphate succeed in ruling the whole world?

The objection against constitutional reform is the real stumbling block to a peace agreement. The Muslims want more independence while the government is stopped from granting it more independence because it may lead to secession.

The solution is to establish a federal state for the Muslims.

The larger the unit, the less people are able to participate or be involved in governance.

We must reduce the size of government into manageable units. To me that is what makes federalism so attractive to many countries today. The federalist principle empowers smaller units of community so governance is more efficient. It is also more ‘democratic’ in the true sense of the word because more citizens are able to participate in governance.

We need a way through which citizens could participate in government or at least come as close as possible to government. Obviously in the Philippines, with more than  100 million people to govern in a unitary system, ‘democracy’ is a very real problem. Democracy to us means ‘representative democracy’ with others governing us. The larger the unit, the less people are able to participate or be involved in governance.

To be democratic we must reduce the size of government into manageable units. That is what makes federalism so attractive to many countries today.

I met Dr. Rey Pagtakhan, a Filipino-Canadian who served as a member of Parliament and a Cabinet minister in the administrations of Prime Ministers Jean Chretien and Paul Martin.

I was invited to be a reactor to Dr. Pagtakhan’s presentation about the dynamics of Canadian parliamentary politics.

The more we delay finding solutions in the Mindanao conflict, the graver the dangers we face with news that there is now an ISIS caliphate (the group of extremists behind gruesome murders in the Iraq-Syria war. President Noynoy cannot help in the mediation for peace because he has sided with BBL with all its innocuous provisions.

This is one noynoying that we cannot be dismissive about. Who should we vote for, or more precisely what should we vote for, BBL or Federalism?