FEDERALISM A MUST FIRST, PARLIAMENTARISM OPTIONAL

FEDERALISM A MUST FIRST, PARLIAMENTARISM OPTIONAL
By: Arnulfo Yu Laniba
Agape Foundation (Agasoft)

Thursday, October 11, 2007, Badbad Oriental, Loon, Bohol, Philippines --

During the rash for Cha-Cha, one person who came from central Bohol (i.e., Carmen town) told me that their constituents quickly signed the paper on People’s Initiative initiated by Governor Aumentado[1] because the barangay officials who went house to house told them, “Sign up. Hurry! For this will solve all our economic problems!”

Now, the content of that dubious paper included the proposed amendment of our government system from the present republic-presidential to republic-parliamentary.

What is the difference between republic-presidential and republic-parliamentary? In the republic-presidential, the President is both the head of state and head of government; in the republic-parliamentary, the President is only the head of state while the Prime Minister is the head of government.

Now republic-parliamentary suits the ambition of Speaker de Venecia who wants to be the Prime Minister while Arroyo remains the President, only clipped of much power.

The pending question is: Will parliamentary truly solve our economic problems, that is, rescue us from the present severe poverty? Is the parliamentary form of government the answer – the solution?

It is easy to answer that question if we look at the example of those nations that are already in the parliamentary form.

In Asia, many nations are using the parliamentary form and have achieved faster development. Taiwan and Singapore are parliamentary. South Korea that is fast progressing as well is a parliamentary government.But the other fast progressing countries of China is communist in government form, but capitalist in economy – mixed. Thailand that is doing better than the Philippines is Constitutional Monarchy – e.g., the government is run by a prime minister under the authority of the king.

This shows us that the form of government is not the final determining factor of progress and development. Japan is not a republic-parliamentary but a Constitutional Monarchy like that of Britain – there is the king or queen and his/her prime minister.

Germany is Republic-Parliamentary with a President and a Prime Minister.

The U.S.A. is progressive under the Republic-Presidential form of government. One common special feature of both U.S.A. and Germany is federalism or a greater autonomy of their local government units composed as states. Under this federal feature of the system, local planning and decisions are made locally, with little national intervention or participation; and the resources are also locally divulged. Both efficiency and effectiveness are the salient features of federalism. Decisions are fast, actions are swift under the federal system. Bureaucracy, red tape and bottlenecks are avoided under the federal feature of government. Planning, decision-making, budgeting, and action are made by government units, and not by the national government. Also, in federalism which is true autonomy, better results can be expected because people are involved in all phases of the development process, e.g., from planning, to decision-making, to resource allocation, to action and evaluation and refinement, and above all, to “harvest”.

Every wise business man or business executive can attest to that fact, being his experience in his business enterprise.

Federalism is also an instrument of fairness, justice, equality or equity. Representation to government through senators and house representatives will be fairly distributed. Unlike today, only one or two senators represent Mindanao and the Visayas, and the large majority of the senators came from Luzon. It is needless to mention that bulk of the millions of the senators’ funds have been given to Luzon, and very little reached to Mindanao and the Visayas. This unfairness is also seen in lawmaking which is biased to the businessmen and people of Luzon. It is the lingering complaint of Mindanao to be the major contributor to the wealth of the nation but receiving only a small percentage of the development projects. A big portion of the funding, financing and development projects went to Luzon.

Even an elementary pupil can see the unfairness. Stories are circulated that in Luzon, they have to scrape existing concrete roads to give way for new ones (or they would construct a new one on top of an old yet still good one, if they could do that); while in Mindanao and the Visayas, roads have been left unpaved for already a very long time. “Where did our taxes and the revenue of our minerals go?” many Mindanaoans and Visayans have been asking that question.

In our preamble, we aim for a “regime of…justice, love, equality and peace…”[2] Fair treatment has not been possible under this present centralized government dominated by men from Luzon. There is no justice, love, equality and so there is no peace. If they want peace, then, there must be justice, love and equality in the first place. These three produce peace; take away justice, love and equality and you will lose peace.

Federalism – read: fair representation to government, fair share of the taxmoney, etc. – is one important method to attain our vision of a regime of “regime of…justice, love, equality and peace…”

For this reason, I go for FEDERALISM just as much as I go for justice, fairness, love and peace.

Now, with regards to the form of government, I do not trust parliamentary as something which will make a big difference in favor of the people. Why do I say that?

I say that because progressive nations are not exclusively nor necessarily parliamentary. The USA is not parliamentary but presidential. The United Kingdom (Britain) is constitutional monarchy with parliamentary feature. South Korea is presidential. Japan is constitutional monarchy with a prime minister and a parliament.
One advantage I see in parliamentary is that the foreign affairs or relationships with other nations are being taken care of by the president while another person, the Prime Minister, concentrates on the domestic affairs of governance. Someday I would for it too but that is not as urgent nor is it first than our need to move towards federalism.

What am I saying is: we should go first to federalism, and to parliamentarism second.

Why is that so?

Here is the logic: Federalism is empowerment of the people or masses through their local governments; on the other hand, parliamentarism is the consolidation of the powers of the National Government, specifically in its two Houses of Congress (that is, the Senate and Lower House of Representatives) into one Parliament.

The base, that is, the people through their local government units or states must first be empowered through federalism before we allow unification of the two houses of the Congress (unicameralism) and the emergence of a powerful Prime Minister.

It will be PARLIAMENTARY-FEDERAL. Germany is the model. Another nation like that is Ethiopia. Also South Africa. Of the 53 countries in Africa, only Ethiopia and South Africa are federal. Ethiopia is republic-parliamentary-federal. These African nations show strength and economic progress; the rest lag behind.

I insist that is the contribution of federalism or people empowerment that fuel Germany, Ethiopia and South Africa, and not necessarily the parliamentary. Why do I say that?

Because in Africa, it is clears that parliamentarism is not working well. Out of the 53 countries of Africa, 30 are parliamentary, but are very poor nonetheless! So that is not a point for the Prime Minister and the Parliament! Of the 53, 6 are republic-presidential like the Philippines, and are also very poor! So that is not a point for the republic-presidential form as well.

CONCLUSION:

That leads me to conclude that presidential or parliamentary would not make a big difference. But FEDERALISM WILL MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. For Federalism is an act of unleashing the latent powers that are still untapped among the people. It is like saying that at the present suppressive system, 90% of the people’s productivity is suppressed, not yet unleashed, not yet tapped; and I do believe that federalism will tap and unleash that hidden potential and dormant power.

So I strongly propose to all of you, my Filipino countrymen, to think first of pushing federalism. You may think of parliamentarism afterwards.

Why is it dangerous to go parliamentary first? It is very dangerous because our national leaders are corrupt. Parliamentarism is consolidation of powers and so the ancient warning applies: Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

Also, parliamentarism is lesser transparency: you will see less the abuses wicked leaders will do. We are blessed to have the Senate that is doing well in its job of check and balance. I do not mind the delay or the bottleneck presently created by the Senate; I am more interested that any move of corruption by the Lower House and the Executive branch would be exposed and checked by the Senate. Viva the Senators!

PARLIAMENTARISM OPTIONAL

After Federalism will have been installed, I will not rush to push parliamentarism. The US presidential-federal form of government is working very well. We are like the US but only in being presidential. For the USA is federal, the Philippines is not. That is where we differ with the USA. And for this reason, I strongly believe that this constitutes a big cause why the Philippines is not progressive. WE are not progressive largely because we are not federal, meaning: the people are oppressed and suppressed; the people are not allowed to use the available resources (e.g., tax money) to pursue their visions, dreams and goals! The people have dreams – they have visions, goals, aims. But Federalism entrusts the people with both the power to plan for those dreams or visions and equip them with the financial resources to pursue those dreams or visions. Federalism allows the people to decide their own fate and grants them the financial-economic resources to carry out their decisions.

Without federalism – read: without the bigger share of revenues and resources – we may have the grand vision and big plans, but how can we achieve them if the National Government keeps 60% of the revenues and resources needed for implementation? And numerous local government units only 40% and give the vast number of barangays only a tiny 8%?

The present set-up is making the purse of the National Government very full! That is why greedy men are spending P64 millions to get elected as Senators for a mere salary of P2 million for the whole 6-year term! Why? Because they will feast on – read: steal – the riches of the National coffer.

In the federal form, the National Government’s share must be reduced to, say, 10% or what is enough to run a lean but efficient National Government. She must stop becoming too fat and too rich so that all those vultures will stop huddling around in the national capital or in Malacañan, stop feasting on her bulging purse and stomach.

REQUIREMENT OF EFFECTIVE FEDERALISM

The first requirement is: THE PEOPLE MUST BE WELL-EDUCATED OR WELL-INFORMED. This means to result to a more COMPETENT PEOPLE AND VIGILANT CITIZENRY. The people need to be Competent so that they can help chart their own course wisely. The people need to be Vigilant so that they can keep watch of the performance and behavior of their leaders. Both competence and vigilance can come from being properly educated.

OUR FIRST STEP

I would like to get involved in the IMPARTING OF WISDOM INTO THE MINDS OF OUR PEOPLE. Wisdom is not knowledge of technology, but knowledge of God’s will, laws and ways. As a people, we need to acquire first the knowledge of God called wisdom. After that, we can proceed acquiring material knowledge known as scientific or technological material knowledge.

This wisdom is what Christ referred to when He encouraged and instructed us far in advance: “Be wise as a serpent, but blameless as a dove.”

It is a wisdom that cannot be penetrated by deceit and lies. That wisdom is truth. That is the truth or set of truths of which Christ said, “My true teachings are the truth. These are the truths that shall set you free…permanently!”


Deepen your search of wisdom, truths and the true Christ through www.franky1.com

Let everyone who has ear that hears come to listen.












































[1] After the defeat of the unpopular People’s Initiative pushed by ULAP President Erico Aumentado, he confided to his former law classmate: “Jun, I was not actually personally for Cha-Cha. I was only indebted to Gloria.”
[2] 1987 Constitution of the Philippines