Eapp Federalism

FEDERALISM
The constitution of the Philippines should not be shifted to Federalism.

Regions are not ready for independence. Federalism promotes independency in every region. They
must stand on their own without getting help from the other regions or from the national government. The
taxes, resources and their funds must and will only circulate within the region and it must not be touched
nor interfered by anyone or by the national government. But we have to admit that not all regions are
capable of being independent because not all regions have enough resources and cannot provide for their
local projects and funds, so they will eventually resort to getting and asking help from the NCR or other
regions. So it does not actually promotes independency. Besides, even President Duterte said that the
Philippines isn’t clearly ready for federalism. Socioeconomic resources are maintained at local levels and
the national government is then asked to fill-in whatever gaps may exist, this clearly states that they will
still rely on the national government. It will worsen the wealth gap issue because if ever we will see the
rich regions getting wealthier and the poor regions getting poorer. If all tax revenues were kept at the
point they originated, we might actually see the wealthier municipalities getting more income and the
poorer ones getting less, resulting in a worsening wealth concentration problem. Some might say that
federalism worked for the other country and that is the point, for example, USA, USA has been under
federalism for how many years but USA is a developed country making it easier for them to sustain for
the needs and resources of their state and it worked for the other countries because this is the system they
started with in the first place.
It is not practicable. It would cost too much, there would be too many expenses and a longer time or a
longer period of processing to consider. It will be needed to undergo plebiscite and referendum and to
change it will take many years. So there will be many adjustments to do. It should undergo a thorough
study and a hearing from the higher Government officers. It must undergo some reasons and prove why
and how it will be. If that will be amended to the country it would take thorough practice and there is a
high risk of failing and we cannot risk the budget of the country because we are suffering poverty even
though we are now a developing country, we cannot deny that every centavo counts. The states will have
to spend a lot of money just to set up and conduct elections for their new officials. A lot of government
administration has attempted to change the 1987 constitution and they have failed accordingly. Just like
the Ramon, Arroyo and Estrada administration. They attempted for a Charter Change but still failed
because many has opposed to change the constitution. According to NEDA, or the National Economic
and Development Authority, it would take 15 years to shift to federalism and as estimated by the NEDA it
will cost a minimum of P156.6 billion and a maximum of P243.5 billion on average. Besides, if it isn’t
broke why fix it? Clearly there is nothing wrong with the current constitution, changing it would be a big
risk and a high percentage at that.
It would worsen the corruption among politicians. A shift to federalism as a formula to address the
problem of poverty is a remedy that calls for the reallocation of powers among politicians. Given the
prevailing culture of corruption among these politicians, however, federalism will not yield positive
results for the country at this time. What we need at this time is to reallocate more powers to the people,
for them to fight the abuse of power of the politicians. Besides federalism could alleviate the dynasty
among politicians because they hold more power and can block the national laws since they will be the
one in charge of everything, taxes, funds, projects and even their justice system. Also the people won’t
have the power to vote for the president, it will depend to the state governors of who will be the nation’s
president. It would be easy to embezzle the funds for the region since the LGU would be in charge and
can keep most of their funds. In these cases, it is a problem with the officials; change government
structures and systems all you want; if it is the same corrupt, lazy and incompetent people running the
show, nothing will change.
It would worsen regional economic inequality. If federalism is amended right now, only three regions
are proven to be ready to adopt with it namely NCR, Region 3 and Region 4 that is according to
conducted survey of Rappler. Even if this survey was not been conducted we can see it with our own eyes
that we are not yet ready for federalism. These 3 regions are ready meanwhile the others will once again
be left behind. This would be a reason to an uneven development among regions where poor regions
become even poorer. Poorer regions would be more dependent to the federal government. Being
dependent on the federal government for financial support would be inequality for other regions who
works hard. And by this as well it doesn’t remove the regional government’s dependence from the federal
government.
There would be no unity and power from the people would be lessen. One of the big reasons why
federalism is not approved until now is because there is no public acceptance neither public clamor. Let’s
not be oblivious, Filipinos lack knowledge among this issue. A majority of Filipinos reject the shift to a
federal system of government now, according to a new survey by Pulse Asia. The same survey found that
only two out of 10 Filipinos agree that the 1987 Constitution should be revised at this time. However, the
number of those opposed to the shift to federalism now is less than the figure in March by 4 percentage
points. It appears that most of these points did not go to support for the shift. Rather, the number of
Filipinos undecided about the shift rose by 4 percentage points. The poll, conducted from June 15 to 21,
found that 62% of Filipinos don't want the present unitary system of government changed to a federal
system now. What is the point pushing federalism if the people does not support this kind of system? If
federalism aims to give more power to the people why don’t we let them decide now? Federalism is just
being talk within the senates, constitution and over all constitution without even people’s opinion or
petition. This just clearly shows that power is not on the people’s sides which was the aim of federalism
to give more power to the people. It is the people who operates the system of government that will make
it fail and succeed. By merely changing the system of government without changing the culture of us
people who governs the same people who cause this failure of the unitary system will make federalism
fail as well. Federalism may end up only reinforcing socio-economic and ethno-political fault lines in an
already divided archipelagic nation.
It is redundant. Decentralization. This is one of the purpose of federalism. To redistribute or disperse

functions, powers, people or things away from a central location or authority. Ladies and gents, the
Philippines is not ignorant when it comes to decentralization. Well in fact, to make things clear and
straight, the present government is already decentralized. According to the 1987 Philippine
Constitution, Article 10, Section 3, “The Congress shall enact a local government code which shall
provide for a more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of
decentralization with effective mechanisms of recall, initiative, and referendum, allocate among the
different local government units their powers, responsibilities, and resources, and provide for the
qualifications, election, appointment and removal, term, salaries, powers and functions and duties of local
officials, and all other matters relating to the organization and operation of the local units.”. Supporting
this is the Local Government Code of 1991. In section 2, it states that: “…the State shall provide for a
more responsive and accountable local government structure instituted through a system of
decentralization whereby local government units shall be given more powers, authority, responsibilities,
and resources. The process of decentralization shall proceed from the national government to the local
government units.” These provisions simply mean that Philippines is already decentralized, therefore
it is redundant, making federalism unnecessary.

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FEDERALISM

The constitution of the Philippines should not be shifted to Federalism.

It is redundant. Decentralization. This is one of the purpose of federalism. To redistribute or disperse

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